


o 







Author 



Title 




16— i 



AN ADDRESS 



TO 



PARENTS AND YOUTH 



ON THE 




0ke 0f K Bxiiimmt 



DELIVEEED AT THE BEL-AIE ACADEMY 

AT THE END OF THE ACADEinC TEAR, JULY 14, 1852. 



V" 



BY EDWIN AKNOLD, LL.D. 

3^rinri{iiil nf tljp Sustitntinn* 



,^^VOFco, 



L 1876. 



Neuj-IDark: 

CADY & BURGESS, PUBLISHERS, 

No. 60 JOHN-STREET. 

1852. 

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Dear Sir: 

In compliance with the request of several gentlemen who were pres- 
ent at the delivery of your lecture last evening, on "The Choice of a Pro- 

I 

fession," I ask the favor of a copy thereof for publication. 

Coinciding in the opinion confidently entertained by them, that a 
dissemination of the views so forcibly presented, and so ably sustained in 
your lecture, could not fail to exert a favorable influence on the public 
mind, I trust you will not hesitate to comply with our request. 
I am, dear sir, 

Your ob't. serv't., 

(Signed,) Wm. B. Bond. 

To Dr. E. Arnold. 



REPLY. 

Major Wm. B. Bond : 
Dear Sir, 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note, requesting, 
in behalf of yourself and others, who were present at the delivery, last 
evening, of the lecture on " The Choice of a Profession/' a copy thereof 
for publication. 

Highly gratified by your approval of my imperfect but earnest effort 
to promote the great cause of popular education, I cannot consistently, 
with a proper respect for you and those whom you represent, refuse to 
comply with your request. ' 

I have the honor to be, dear sir, 

Your ob't. serv't., 

Edwin Arnold. 
Bel- Air J July 15th, 1852. 



e €^m of a profession. 



It is a favorite theory with, many, that every human being 
is endowed by his Maker with certain distinctive peculiari- 
ties of mind and heart, which fit him in an especial manner for 
the performance of duties, appropriate to some peculiar station 
on the great mundane theatre : — that these peculiarities de- 
velop themselves spontaneously early enough to enable any 
intelligent and observing parent to select for his child that 
path of life which Providence designs he should pursue; 
and that the failure of so many persons to become eminent, 
or even respectable, in their several vocations, is attributable 
to neglect on the part of the parent or youth to notice these 
developments, inability to comprehend their indications, or 
unwillingness to be governed by them. 

However true the theory may be of the special fitness by 
nature of each individual for some special vocation, it requires 
more than an ordinary degree of credulity or prejudice to be- 
lieve, that failure of success to become respectable or useful is 
always or even generally attributable to a neglect of its doc- 
trines. It is indeed probable, nay, perhaps certain, that each 
individual has from nature special peculiarities of mind, heart 
and temperament, that distinguish him or her from all other 
individuals — ^that the mental characteristics are in fact as 
varied and as distinctly marked as the physical features. But 
as it would be absurd to attribute the distinctive features of 

1 



the face or form to a special Providence, so also does it seem 
preposterous to suppose that the peculiarities of mental and 
moral character are attributable to the special agency of 
Omnipotence. It appears much more rational to believe that 
our mental and moral, like our physical endowments, are sub- 
ject to general^ not to special laws, and that all are much more 
dependent on the physical, moral and mental characters of our 
parents and forefathers, than on any peculiar interposition of 
divine agency. 

An unqualified belief in the theory, to which reference has 
been made, though not always, nor of necessity, attended with 
evil consequences, is yet often prejudicial to the best interests 
of youth, and even, to a limited extent, of society itself. For 
instance, a parent of this belief may, from very early indica- 
tions, real or imaginary, conceive his son designed by Pkovi- 
DENCE for some peculiar calling, in which he is to become at 
some future day a " bright, particular star." For this pecu- 
liar calling, he fancies a peculiar course of intellectual training 
appropriate, and communicating his hopes and views to the 
professed teacher to whom his son's education is to be tem- 
porarily and partially entrusted, desires that a certain pre- 
scribed course of treatment shall be rigidly pursued, but that 
no coercion of any kind be employed, lest the spontaneous de- 
velopment of his faculties should be interrupted, or their ten- 
dency diverted. 

In process of time the child begins to manifest a decided re- 
pugnance to some branch of study included in the prescribed 
course. The parent is consulted, but still clinging tenaciously 
to his favorite notion, attributes the difficulty to mismanage- 
ment or incapacity on the part of the instructor. The boy is 
accordingly removed to another school, and the new teacher 
is subjected to the grievous annoyance of listening for half an 
hour to the fanciful notions and plans of the parent, and a ful- 
some eulogy on the character of the new pupil, and finally to 
an expression of the confident belief that the former teacher 
did not comprehend his son's character, nor appreciate his 
noble qualities. 

A few days or weeks, possibly months elapse, and the scene 
before described is re-enacted ; a second change is made, and a 



third teacher is tried with a similar result ; some one or more 
branches of the prescribed course of study being yet distaste- 
ful to the young student. The parent now begins to think it 
possible he may have misapprehended the indications of Provi- 
dence, and after mature reflection, and a full consultation with 
his friends, modifies his prospective plans, and his son's course 
of study accordingly, and determines to try another teacher. 
New developments, however, not of new faculties, but of new 
distastes, continue to multiply in direct ratio with the amount 
of tax imposed on the intellectual stock of the hopeful youth, 
and the degree of mental labor its payment exacts. Views 
continue to be changed or modified, and correspouding al- 
terations made in the course of study, one branch being aban- 
doned after another, until, when too late to benefit by the 
discovery, it is found that the boy, in whom, through the 
magnifying but deceptive media of parental pride and vanity, 
the fond father and doting mother had beheld in embryo, a 
noble warrior, a great statesman, profound jurist, eminent 
theologian, or celebrated physician, has a predilection for noth- 
ing but an alternation of idleness and mischief, diversified with 
cakes and sweetmeats, and seems to possess no faculties be- 
yond what are required to constitute a genuine idler. 

Another parent, who entertains a belief substantially the 
same, but who conceives that the indications are not mani- 
fested until the youth approximates, or has attained to ma- 
turity of age and judgment, has his son educated without 
special reference to any peculiar calling, and then awaits the 
development of those moral and mental characteristics that 
are to designate the vocation for which Providence had in- 
tended him. 

Too often, alas ! he waits in vain ; for while he deliberates 
and hesitates, the youth, surrounded by temptations at an age 
when he is peculiarly prone to be enticed into the devious 
paths of vice, being left without a legitimate and worthy ob- 
ject of pursuit, becomes a prey to ennui, or plunges into the 
vortex of dissipation and debauchery. 

To await, therefore, the indications of a special Providence, 
through the spontaneous development of peculiar features of 
moral and intellectual character in our offspring, would in 






general be unwise, and yet more so to. be governed solely by 
tbese apparent indications either in tbe selection of peculiar 
branches of study, or the choice of a vocation. Besides, com- 
paratively very few parents have either the opportunity or 
the ability to discern the peculiarities of budding intellect, 
however competent they may be to comprehend the direction 
of moral propensities. It is infinitely more safe to adopt the 
theory, " that we are creatures of education;" for herein we 
are sustained by the inspired word of God, as uttered by the 
mouth of one, who is emphatically styled "the wise man" — 
*' Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is 
old he will not depart from it." 

In obedience to this divine precept, let parents charge them- 
selves especially with the moral and religious culture of their 
children, and let the means of developing and cultivating their 
intellectual endowments devolve on those to whom, as pro- 
fessional educators, this duty properly belongs. At the same 
time there should be a mutual and cordial understanding be- 
tween the parent and teacher, as well as frequent and unre- 
served intercommunication on the results of their repective 
labors, so that each may have the benefit of the other's ex* 
perience, observation and counsel, and both may cordially and 
zealously co-operate in the pursuit of the desired object — the 
production of a respectable and useful citizen here, and a suc- 
cessfal candidate for a glorious immortality hereafter. 

Knowing that in every vocation of life, the soundest princi- 
ples of integrity, united with a feeling of general benevolence, 
the most fixed habits of industry and economy, self reliance, 
perseverance and punctuality are essential to success, the 
instilling of these principles and feelings, and the formation of 
these habits, should constitute the parent's first and most earnest 
care. At the same time we should constantly endeavor in- 
delibly to impress upon the minds and hearts of our children 
a profound sense of their direct accountability to God for their 
use and employment of the various talents, mental, moral and 
physical, with which He has endowed them ; we should dili- 
gently strive to make them feel and comprehend that the ob- 
ject of their creation was their own happiness, but that this 
object can yet be attained, either in time or eternity, only in 



God's appointed way — that tlie finger-boards of this appointed 
way can be found only in the guide-book which God has given 
to man — the Bible. Let us teach them — 

^' The beauty of the Sabtath kept 
With conscientious reverence, as a day 
By the Almighty Lawgiver pronounced 
Holy and blest.'' 

While we thus strive to instruct our children in the nature 
and end of their being, and in the peculiarities of their relative 
duties to God and their fellow-creatures, we must also early 
and constantly require and enforce, by precept and example, 
yea, and when necessary, by other means, the uniform prac- 
tice of these duties, being sensible that habit will often render 
the performance easy and pleasant even of acts in themselves 
disagreeable ; how much more then that of those which are 
essentially pleasurable because virtuous, 

"That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat 
Of habit's devil, is angel-apt in this: 
That to the use of actions fair and good 
He likewise gives a frock of livery 
That aptly is put on*' — 

Says Shakspeare. The following lines of Wordsworth like- 
wise here suggest themselves : 

^^Full soon thy soul shall have her earthly freight, 
And oustom lie upon thee with a weight 
Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life." 

And again : — 

" The mild necessity of use compels 
To acts of love; and habit does the work 
Of reason." 

As soon as youth approximate that period of life, whatever 
it may be, when from any cause they are about to leave the 
parental roof, and to assume a position which is to call into 
action on their own account, and under their own guidance, 
their respective talents and tendencies, let them be made to 
comprehend fully the nature and extent of the responsibility 



10 

tliej are about to assume, and the multiplicity of the snares, 
temptations and allurements with which they will be sur- 
rounded ; that the surest means of sustaining the one, and the 
best safeguard against the others, will be a constant and un- 
deviating performance of all their duties both to God and 
man, with a firm reliance on the power and goodness of their 
Father who is in heaven, to shield, protect and uphold them 
under all trials and difficulties ; that a life of idleness is not 
only a life of danger, but of sin, and therefore of misery. Thus 
trained, instructed, warned and exhorted, let them now be 
told that the time has arrived when they must decide upon 
some trade or profession. 

Whatever time the youth may be allowed in which to make 
up his mind, in a majority of cases he will be found at the end 
of it undecided, and the choice at last of a profession for the 
son will of necessity devolve on the parent. In many in- 
stances the selection, ultimately made, is the result of control- 
ling circumstances, and not of free and deliberate option on 
either side. But I now suppose a case in which circumstances 
admit of a free and unbiassed exercise of the will and judgment 
— where there is no predominating bias on the part of the 
youth, or special object on the part of the parent to influence 
the decision. Here there is apt to ensue a state of painful sus- 
pense and anxiety on one side, and of imminent danger on the 
other. 

To a parent thus situated I would venture to offer the fol- 
lowing advice, which may be taken for what it is worth. I 
would say, if your son have enjoyed and diligently improved 
the opportunity of acquiring a liberal education — ^if he have a 
fair form and a commanding voice, a graceful delivery and 
dignity of manner, a general benevolence towards men and 
unfeigned piety towards God, let him commence the study of 
theology. 

If a youth have great perspicacity, diligence and assiduity^ 
a fondness for argument and fertility of resource, boldness in 
debate and firmness in decision, tenacity of purpose and perse- 
verance in execution, and to these qualities add a good voice 
and fluency of language, make him a lawyer, whether or not 
he may have had the benefit of a liberal education. 



11 

If he liave an iron constitution, great power of physical and 
mental endurance, some mechanical genius, a temperament 
compounded of the bilious and sanguine, cheerfulness of dispo- 
sition and uniform equanimity, with suavity of manner and a 
graceful address, he will be likely to succeed as a surgeon or 
physician, especially if his medical studies be based upon a 
sound classical and mathematical education. 

Should the young man, whatever may have been the extent 
of his mental acquirements, early evince a fondness for me- 
chanical pursuits, as usually indicated by the manufacture of 
toys, models of the steam engine, mill- work, or similar appara- 
tus, he would be likely to make a good dentist ; or if he have 
also a fondness for mathematics, and be endowed with a strong 
and vigorous constitution, make him a civil engineer, or give 
him at least some mechanical trade. 

If he early manifest a fondness for traffic, with shrewdness 
in making a bargain, but possess a strength of integrity and a 
nobleness of spirit that would scorn to take advantage of the 
absolute ignorance of another — if he have a peculiar aptitude for 
figures, a perfect use of the pen, so far as pertains to mechanical 
execution, great and uniform punctuality of habit, a pleasing 
address, with quick discernment and unflagging industry, let 
him be initiated into the mysteries of the counting-room ; in 
other words, make him a merchant. 

Should the elements of your son's character be so equally 
and uniformly developed, that no decided prominence is mani- 
fested in any of the peculiar features that usually distinguish 
one specimen of humanity from another, and yet there be 
abundant evidence that no radical defect exists in the capacity 
or contents of his intellectual calibre, make him a printer. 
During the period of his apprenticeship for this vocation, he 
will have occasion to notice and examine the thoughts and 
doings of men in the various walks of life, learn something of 
the peculiar requirements and duties of each, and thus will ul- 
timately be led to the discovery whether or not nature designed 
him for any special vocation, before it is too late to make a final 
selection for himself. Some may be induced to reject the sug- 
gestion here offered, firom the fact that, in case of its adoption, 
the youth must serve an apprenticeship as a " devil f^ but these 



12 

should remember that every age has presented us with dis- 
tinguished statesmen, philosophers, jurists — yea, and even 
divines, who in their youth were most distinguished devils. 
Besides all this, the printer's devil is an avowed " devil" — sl 
devil, in fact, by profession, and therefore not half so bad as 
your secret devil — your devil in angel's garb, or, in other 
words, your devilish hypocrite. 

Finally, if your son possess in an eminent degree all those 
high and useful qualities and qualifications which have been 
enumerated, he is fit to enter upon a course of study prepara- 
tory to the profession of an educator. And if, in amazement, 
you exclaim, — ^Why ? I reply : because the educator should 
be qualified to teach by precept and example whatever consti- 
tute the elements of success in all other trades and professions ; 
but he can neither teach what he does not himself know, nor 
communicate to others what he does not himself possess. 

To the youth, who is disposed, or who, from circumstances 
beyond his control, is compelled to select for himself a vocation 
for life, I would recommend the serious review of what I have 
already stated, and a careful consideration of what I shall now 
proceed to add. 

First and highest among the requirements for success in any 
and every vocation is an honest heart, for " an honest man" is 
justly said to be '' the noblest work of God." To this you 
must add an invincible resolution to preserve, through all the 
changes and chances of this mortal life, " a conscience void of 
offence towards Grod and towards man;" ever remembering, 

" That from the body of one guilty deed, 
A thousand guilty fears and haunting thoughts proceed." 

Let it, then, be your first aim to secure and immovably es- 
tablish this foundation ; for on no other, whatever be the ex- 
tent and variety of your endowments, however varied and 
profound your acquirements, can you erect a superstructure 
that will be able to withstand the storms and tempests of the 
moral world, or escape unscathed the fearful blast of the arch- 
angel's trump, when in the last day " he shall stand upon the 
sea and upon the earth, lift up his hand to heaven, and swear 
by Him, that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven 



13 

and tlie things that therein are, and the earth and the things 
that therein are, and the sea and the things which are therein, 
that there shall be time no longer." 

This foundation being firmly laid, and having made jout 
humble but fervent supplications to the Almighty Disposer of 
all events, with a firm reliance on his power, wisdom and 
goodness to guide and direct your decision, proceed to make 
choice of a vocation. But first divest yourself, if possible, of 
all pre-conceived notions with regard to the superiority in 
point of respectability of one profession over another. 

In the eye of the great God above, and in the estimation of 
wise and good men here, all trades and professions are equally 
respectable, since man's true respectability is measurable not 
by his vocation, but by the manner in which his duties are per- 
formed; not by his profession, but by his practice. With as 
much propriety might we estimate a man's character by the 
height or magnificence of the house in which he happened to 
dwell. Previous to a final decision, too, I would suggest that 
you examine in detail not only the respective pleasures and 
apparent advantages which belong to the several vocations 
that commend themselves to your favorable consideration, but 
■also the difficulties and dangers that attach to them, and that 
you also weigh well your own mental and physical powers of 
execution and endurance. 

With regard to the profession of a minister of the Gospel, 
reflect that though its path leads directly heavenward, it yet 
requires of him who selects it extraordinary fervor of devotion, 
great power, and the constant practice of self-denial ; and 
that though the reward is infinitely great to him who is faith- 
ful unto the end, woe will be to him who falters and fails. 

/The profession of law is high and ennobling, full of dignity 
and importance, affording full scope for the exercise of the most 
exalted mental powers, and abundant opportunities of useful- 
ness ; but remember, also, that though it involves a responsi- 
bility somewhat less weighty than that of theology, and im- 
poses restrictions on the moral and physical propensities some- 
what less rigid, it is beset with innumerable snares and 
temptations, to overcome or escape which requires an intensity 
of firmness and a purity of integrity, which many young per- 
sons cannot always command.] 



14 

Medicine and surgery have also their peculiar advantages 
and pleasures. To relieve the sick, heal the wounded, and 
comfort the afflicted, are duties — the faithful performance 
of which cannot fail to afford to the skilful and benevolent 
practitioner unspeakable gratification. But it must also be his 
frequent lot to witness the ravages of disease which he cannot 
check or control, to suffer the pain of seeing youth and beauty 
yielding up their charms to the cold embrace of relentless 
death, and fond parents shedding tears of bitter anguish over 
the last departing ray of the brightest and most ardently- 
cherished hope — ^to see the smiling infant snatched from the 
breast of its fondly-admiring mother — ^the devoted mother as 
suddenly torn from the clinging embrace of the lovely babe, 
which could look to her alone for safety and protection. Of 
many such scenes he must be but a passive spectator. A vast 
responsibility, too, rests on him to whom, under God, is com- 
mitted the safe-keeping of an invaluable life ; and terrible m ust 
be his retribution, who, by wilful ignorance or heedless neg- 
lect, causes its extinction. 

I It should also be remembered that the professions of law 
aM medicine are both now literally thronged with members, 
many of whom are unable to secure therefrom the most mode- 
rate means of subsistence ; and that to succeed in either, beyond 
very humble limits, requires more than an ordinary degree of 
capacity, patience, and persevering assiduity./ 

The path of merchandize, beset on every hand with tempta- 
tions to allure the unwary youth from the path of rectitude, 
has really few attractions beyond the hope of accumulating 
*' filthy lucre." And even this must lose many of its charms, 
when it is known that scarcely one in fifty of those who embark 
in trade, is able at the age of sixty years to retire with an in- 
dependent fortune ; and that of those who may have been thus 
successful in the aggregation of wealth, scarcely one in a thou- 
sand, even if he lives long enough, knows how to enjoy the 
fruits of his long and arduous labors. 

The life of a mechanic is in a great degree devoid of that 
heavy responsibility, which must often weigh with depressing 
effect upon the spirit of a sensitive and conscientious minister 
of the Gospel, judge or physician, while it is exempt in a great 



15 

degree from the snares and temptations that uniformly beset the 
lawyer and young trader. Besides, the mechanic does not ab- 
solutely need, to ensure success, the long, sometimes tedious 
and always expensive course of education, which is generally 
required for either of the professions of law, medicine, or theo- 
logy, nor the pecuniary capital usually needed by a young man 
about to embark in mercantile operations. A sound moral 
character, a fair English education, a vigorous constitution and 
a thorough knowledge of his trade, constitute all the capital he 
requires beyond his chest of tools ; and this properly employed, 
can never fail to secure to its possessor at least a competency of 
this world's goods, while it has often proved and will again 
prove a source of wealth. The principal, or at least the most 
serious obstacle to the choice of his vocation is the difficulty of 
finding a master-mechanic, who is willing to receive a youth as 
his son, and who is also properly qualified and disposed as a 
father to watch over and protect him, during his apprentice- 
ship, from evil associations. 

Were I a youth possessed of ample pecuniary means, and 
permitted, or constrained to make choice of a profession or of 
a business for life, I would select that of a farmer. First, because 
in the estimation of all it is inferior to none in point of dignity, 
honor or usefulness. Secondly, because of all vocations, that 
of an agriculturist on his own farm is the most independent. 
Thirdly, because while it is eminently free from most of the 
annoyances and vexations incident to other vocations, it is pe- 
culiarly exempt from temptations to vice in any form. Lastly, 
because the performance of its duties is eminently adapted to 
promote uninterrupted health, rational enjoyment, and undis- 
turbed quietude of mind. 

But if, without wealth, or at least without the pecuniary 
means requisite to purchase a farm and stock it fully, I yet 
possessed the advantages of a liberal education, and felt myself 
competent in general to assume the responsibility and perform 
the duties of an educator, I would unhesitatingly become a 
teacher. 

Well aware of the repugnance with which this vocation is re- 
garded by a majority of young persons, and the stolid contempt 
with which it is looked upon by many, both old and young, 



16 

-who are without discernment enough to distinguish its true 
merits, or honesty enough to acknowledge them, I would here 
invite the unbiassed attention of both parents and youth to a 
few of the reasons which would lead me to select this profes- 
sion. 

I have heretofore expressed the belief that all useful and 
honest trades, vocations and professions, were, in the abstract^ 
essentially equal in point of respectability ; but supposing we 
admit the validity of the prevailing opinion, that to different 
professions per se belong different degrees of intrinsic respecta- 
bility and honor — then, before we can assign to each its appro- 
priate position in the scale, we must determine upon some 
standard or measure of comparison. This standard should un- 
questionably be importance and utihty to mankind, com- 
bined with the highest degree of moral and intellectual capa- 
city and attainments. If this be adopted as the true standard 
of comparison, and it is plain there can be no other more just 
or proper, it will require no long discussion to prove that the 
profession of the educator, now in general so lightly esteemed, 
stands at the head of the scale. In point of importance and 
utility to the best interests of humanity, it plainly can have no 
competitor : for what is man, or what can man ever become, 
without education? And how shall education be obtained 
without an educator ? 

It is true that without the agency of the professed educator, 
a few, and but a few, of the most needful arts of life might 
have had existence ; but science, with all the innumerable ap- 
pliances of comfort and convenience that have followed in its 
train, must have been utterly unknown. Of the general laws 
which govern the material universe, and regulate the motions 
of those countless orbs that roll in silent majesty through the 
immensity of space, the knowledge and contemplation of which 
never fail to produce upon the mind of man the most enno- 
bling and elevating effects, we should have been as ignorant 
as the wildest savage that roams through the wilderness. The 
special laws that regulate the intercourse of man with his 
fellow-man — that protect the feeble from the violence of the 
strong, and the honest from the impositions of the villainous — 
that restrain the uplifted hand of the midnight assassin, and 



17 

defeat the iiellisli macHnations of the daring burglar, could 
yet have had no existence. Without education, even the Bible 
itself would have been a sealed book — ^yea, would never have 
existed, at least in its present form ; and millions, who have 
been safely guided by its directions over the tempestuous 
ocean of life, as the mariner by his compass, into the placid 
haven of eternal rest, would have sunk into the grave ignorant 
of the being of a God and Saviour, and heedless of the high, 
destiny that awaited them in a glorious immortality. It may 
be asked here, do you place the profession of che educator 
before that of the preacher ? I unhesitatingly reply, yes : for 
to whom, under God, does the preacher owe his ability to per- 
form the duties of his ofdce but to the educator ? And where 
would have been his text-book but for education ? How 
would he have composed his sermons had he not been taught 
the art of writing ? How could he have delivered them had 
he not acquired the art of reading ? And even yet, how could 
he have hoped to succeed in awakening from his fatal lethargy 
the sluggish sinner slumbering on the brink of hell, had not 
his reasoning powers been disciplined, and his tongue trained 
to eloquence, through the instrumentality of the educator ? 

But, again, how do the requisite moral and intellectual at- 
tainments of the preacher compare with those of the teacher ? 
The outward character of the former must be pure and spotless ; 
so must that of the teacher. Both must exhibit an example of 
life and conversation worthy in all respects of imitation — the 
former to the members of his congregation, the latter to his 
pupils ; but the former may limit his intercourse with the 
members of his flock to occasional or periodic visits of half an 
hour each — the latter must spend among his pupils some thirty 
hours or more of every week. In the intercourse of the 
preacher with the members of his flock, there seldom occurs an 
incident to excite an angry passion or call forth an angry ex- 
pression ; in the intercourse of the teacher with his pupils, such 
incidents are of daily — ^yea, of hourly occurrence : the latter, 
therefore, must of necessity possess a more perfect control over 
his feelings, language and acts. The preacher must have a 
knowledge of theology and Church history, know enough of 
Greek to read in that language the Kew Testament, and have 



18 

some acquaintance witli belles-lettres. Tlie teaclier must have 
a general knowledge of theology, be well versed in universal 
history, be master of Latin, Greek, and his own vernacular 
tongue, and understand the principles of logic and rhetoric ; 
he must be thoroughly acquainted with all the most important 
departments of natural science and the mathematics — in a 
word, he must be prepared to serve as a living encyclopedia, 
a portable universal dictionary, to which his pupils may have 
recourse with perfect freedom and confidence at all times. 

It is plain, then, that whether we regard the relative utility 
and importance of the two professions, or the difficulty and ex- 
tent of the relative moral and intellectual attainments required, 
that of the teacher is superior to the profession of the preacher. 

In like manner, if we examine in detail the comparative im- 
portance of the other professions, or the requisite attainments 
peculiar to each, we shall find that they are greatly inferior in 
these respects to that of education. For none requires such 
purity of moral character, or such perfect self-control, itself 
one of the most difficult of all attainments ; none so great 
perspicacity and discretion ; none so thorough a knowledge of 
human nature in all its complex ramifications and varied 
phases ; none so large an amount of learning, or a knowledge of 
so many different departments of science, nor any so copious a 
fund of general information. 

Since, then, the profession of the teacher is of all the 
most important and the most useful, it should also be consi- 
dered of all the most honorable ; and since it likewise excels 
all others in the extent and variety of its moral and mental 
requirements, it must of necessity occupy the highest place in 
the scale of true respectability. 

I am aware that this is not the generally received opinion ; 
but I contend, and think indeed I have already demonstrated, 
that this is not attributable to any defect in its claims, but to 
the prejudice and want of reflection of most persons out of the 
profession, and the ignorance of too many in it. The with- 
holding from the educational profession its due meed of honor 
is therefore rather a misfortune, resulting in part from for- 
tuitous circumstances than a fault arising from deliberate pre- 
meditation. It is, however, a misfortune which affects in a 



19 

greater or less degree every member of society, for the welfare 
and happiness of each individual must necessarily be greatly in- 
fluenced by the moral deportment and intelligence of his 
neighbour, and by the general character of the community, or the 
population of the State in which he resides. But the general 
character, both moral and intellectual, of the great mass of the 
people, is dependent upon the shape and form impressed upon 
the plastic mind and heart of youth by the moulding hand of 
the teacher. How infinitely important, then, is it, in time and 
in eternity, that the duties of education should be committed to 
those only who are distinguished for purity of morals and emi- 
nence in intellectual capacity and acquirements. Yet while 
its due honor and high consideration are withheld from this 
profession, such persons engage in its duties with reluctance, if 
at all ; and the highest natural and acquired abilities are there- 
fore usually diverted to other vocations, which, though inferior 
in true honor and importance, yet occupy a more elevated po- 
sition in public estimation. 

Let not, then, teachers be depressed or discouraged by this 
anomalous state of things — this perversion of pubhc sentiment ; 
but let them rise in their united strength, and exhibit them- 
selves in the true character of their profession, dignified with 
every moral virtue and adorned with every intellectual accom- 
plishment within the limits of human attainments. Let them 
trim their lamps, and see that they are fully and constantly 
supplied with the oil of moral and mental excellence, and soon 
shall they behold the lowering clouds of ignorance and preju- 
dice, which now envelop the public mind, dispersing before 
the brightness of the glowing light that will illumine their on- 
ward and upward paths. Then will men of all classes be gra- 
dually brought to see and comprehend the source from whence, 
under God, moral and intellectual excellence emanates, and 
each will vie with his neighbour in rendering to the educational 
profession its due tribute of honor and commendation. 

Secondly. "Were I a young man and master of my own move- 
ments, I would make choice of the profession of teaching, 
because of the comparative peace and quietude of mind which 
belong to it, and its freedom from innumerable temptations to 
which most other vocations are exposed. Genuine peace and 



20 

quietude of mind can result only from an inward consciousness 
that we are devoting all the energies of mind and body with 
which we have been endowed, to their only legitimate objects, 
the glory of God and the promotion and happiness of our fellow- 
beings. How can these objects be more certainly attained 
than by a faithful performance of the duties that devolve on 
the educator ? How could we more efficiently promote the 
glory of God than by instructing and urging youth, both by 
precept and example, to love and adore Him for his good- 
ness, to venerate Him for his wisdom, to fear Him for 
his power, to obey Him as the Universal Father ? — 
How can the happiness of ourselves and others be more 
effectively promoted, than by constant endeavors to give 
a proper direction to the incipient developments of the moral 
features of ingenuous youth, and to clothe them with armor 
whereby they may be able, when advanced to manhood, to 
ward off or repel the allurements of sin, the world and the 
devil ? Where shall we be so likely to preserve our own in- 
nocence and meliorate our own characters, as in the midst of 
young persons to whom we feel constrained, by the require- 
ments of our calling, to exhibit in our daily walk and conver- 
sation an example of that moral excellence which we commend 
to their aim and require in their deportment ? Where shall 
we be so free from temptation to evil as in the school-room, sur- 
rounded by youth yet untainted or but slightly affected with 
the leprosy of vice, and whence is excluded all vulgar or pro- 
fane language, every base or degrading action ? 

Thirdly. I would select the educational profession because 
of the abundant opportunities it affords for the cultivation and 
enlargement of the intellectual powers, and consequent in- 
crease of capacity for rational enjoyment. 

The pleasures of sense are animal in their nature, transient 
as the moment in which they are enjoyed, fleeting as the source 
from whence they are derived not only, but the power itself 
of enjoyment is diminished j'ust in proportion as it is exerted, 
and even in the most abstemious must very soon entirely dis- 
appear, leaving, alas! an enfeebled constitution shattered by 
disease, an emaciated body racked with pain. The pleasures 
of the mind are spiritual, firm and enduring as the rock of 



21 

ages ; pure and perennial, like the great fountain in heaven, 
whence they spring. Ever increasing in attractiveness and 
intensity, their indulgence serves but to enlarge the capacity 
of enjoyment. Always fresh and invigorating in their effects, 
they cannot, like the pleasures of sense, either cloy or debili- 
tate. 

I do not mean to say that the profession of teaching is alone 
favorable to mental cultivation and the pleasures which arise 
therefrom, but I do contend that the faithful performance of 
its duties is eminently adapted to this end. The faithful 
teacher, while yet young and inexperienced, but ardently de- 
voted to the improvement and happiness of his pupils, is at 
first compelled to traverse the flowery meads of literature in 
search of the most beautiful and fragrant blossoms to amuse 
and captivate his youthful companions, to refine and elevate 
their taste ; while he is also constrained to climb the towering 
peaks of Parnassus, and explore the inmost recesses of Minerva's 
temple, in search of food to gratify their intellectual appetites 
and promote their intellectual growth. He must examine the 
pages of biography, that he may be well supplied witK ex- 
amples to illustrate the sure and certain success that ever 
awaits, in every laudable pursuit, persevering industry and un- 
tiring assiduity, to exhibit the pleasurable as well as beneficial 
results to individuals of deep lore and lofty science — yea, and 
even of superficial knowledge. He must seek amidst the re- 
cords of history for means to show how the happiness and 
prosperity of nations have been, and may again be, promoted 
by the application through individual agency of the principles 
of science to the arts of life, that a noble ambition may be ex- 
cited in the breasts of his pupils to become also benefactors to 
their country and their race. 

In this connection he will exhibit to their mental eye the 
persevering industry of Brown, the patient and untiring ap- 
plication of ISTewton, the unfaltering resolution of Franklin, 
Eittenhouse and Le Yerrier, Watt, Fulton, Morse, and many 
others, who, though surrounded by difficulties and obstacles 
that would have appalled less resolute minds, and sustained by 
no friendly aid or encouragement, except that derived from a 

consciousness of being engaged in a noble and exalted enter- 

2 



22 

prise, finally acliieved eacli for himself an imperishable name, 
and the enviable appellation of a national benefactor to his 
country. 

All this and more must the young teacher, who aims at 
eminence in his profession, do, if not from inclination, at least 
from necessity. But who that ever tasted the pure waters that 
flow from the Pierian fountain, would not wish to taste' 
again ; or who that has tasted would nofwish to .drink ? "Who 
that has drunk would not desire to drink more deeply ? Who 
that has once obtained admittance to the temple of science would 
leave it forever but by constraint ? Each of its innumerable 
apartments has inscribed upon its lintel some novel and at- 
tractive title to invite him within its portals : each is furnished 
with a thousand objects of interest to excite his curiosity and 
invite an examination. Scarcely has this been surveyed, when 
his mental eye rests upon another superscription yet more 
curious and attractive : beneath it a door opens at his approach, 
exposing to view an apartment yet more gorgeously and mag- 
nificently decorated. Here again he revels in all the luxury 
and rapture of the philosophic epicure, and feasts upon delica- 
cies such as Minerva alone knows how to supply for the enter- 
tainment of her guests, until the hour arrives when he must 
return to the almost equally pleasurable exercise of distribu- 
ting among his pupils the delicious fruits and rich viands 
which he has gathered — an exercise the more pleasing, because, 
like the magnet, he finds his own mental vigor increased as its 
influence is imparted to other minds ; his own knowledge en- 
larged, and his own gratification promoted, by communicating 
knowledge and pleasure to others. 

Who, then, can gainsay the proposition, that a faithfal per- 
formance of the duties of the educational profession is pecu- 
liarly adapted to promote the mental improvement of its 
members. 

Fourthly. I would select this profession, because I hold it to 
be the duty of every Christian and patriotic citizen, when cir- 
cumstances permit it, to become a married man. I should, 
therefore, look forward to the period when I should become a 
father. But if it be the duty of every good citizen to rear a 
family, it is equally his duty to train up his offspring in the 



28 

way they should go, so that when they shall have grown to 
maturity they may prove a comfort to him, an honor to them- 
selves, and a blessing to their country. And where could one 
have a better opportunity of studying the duties about to 
devolve on him as a parent than in the school-room ? Here, 
among the children of his charge, he would meet with every 
variety of character and disposition, and in his efforts to govern 
and instruct these aright, he would gradually acquire the art 
of discriminating between the different species of mental and 
moral obliquities, with their respective symptoms, and would 
likewise gain skill in devising and judgment in applying the 
proper remedies. Himself, too, being a professed educator, he 
could continue with infinite advantage to conduct the educa- 
tion of his children after they should have arrived at an age 
when it would otherwise become necessary to commit them to 
the tutelary care of others less personally interested in their 
improvement. 

Such are some of, the most weighty considerations which 
would induce me to select the educational profession in pre- 
ference to others. 

Be it remembered, however, that I here speak of the profes- 
sion and its members, not as they are, but as they ought to be ; 
and as they must and will be when society shall have been 
brought to understand its true and best interests. For it may 
be alleged that I have spoken only of the advantages of this 
profession, while I have studiously kept out of view the various 
evils to which, in common with others, it is subject; that the 
picture has two sides, but one of which has been exhibited. 
Behold the other, and you see a vocation regarded by two- 
thirds of the great men of our country and three-fourths of the 
smaller specimens of humanity, as but little elevated above 
that of the common herdsman. I admit that there is too much 
truth in this assertion, but in reply would simply repeat what 
I have heretofore said and demonstrated, that this monstrous 
absurdity is attributable not to any inherent defect in the char- 
acter or claims of the profession itself, but to ignorance, preju- 
dice, or want of reflection. 

But again, you say, look at another part of the picture, and 
you may see a long, lank, stern-looking individual, rude in 



24 

manners and uncoutli in appearance, with wooden brains, and 
heart of stone, casting around an angry glance upon a group of 
hapless urchins, trembling with fear, half exhausted with ennui, 
and suffering from the poisoned atmosphere of a contracted 
and crowded apartment. There you may behold an unfortu- 
nate wight, who has been detected in some act of childish mis- 
chief, and is now suffering the penalty of his thoughtlessness 
from the blows of the birch, wielded by the iron hand of a 
merciless Orbilius. And here is another scene : the exercises 
of the school have been closed for the day, and the troops of 
children are dispersing. I can almost imagine I hear the joy- 
ful peal of gladness, as they issue from their prison-house. 

The pedagogue is wending his way to the nearest tavern ; 
could we follow him, we should presently see him at the bar 
impatiently awaiting his dram, and next mingling with some 
crowd of brawling loafers, to while away the tedious hours, 
that hang like leaden weights upon his hands. This, you say, 
is one of your professional brethren. "What respect can you 
expect to be awarded to a vocation that admits to membership 
such individuals ? We reply promptly and emphatically, that 
we acknowledge no such individual as a member of our noble 
profession. He is an interloper, thrust into the intellectual 
vineyard by those more brainless than himself — ^by those who 
had not discernment enough to distinguish between a genuine 
educator and a very poor counterfeit ; by those who had not 
affection enough for their children, or interest enough in their 
future welfare, to seek for them a competent instructor ; or, final- 
ly, by those who lacked either honesty or liberality enough to 
pay a fair compensation for educational services. 

I would here add also that you have selected the worst spe- 
cimen of the worst class that disfigures and disgraces the 
teacher's vocation. There is no profession which does not 
contain more or less unworthy members. I thank Grod, that 
comparatively few such specimens can now be found encum- 
bering our vineyard, and deforming its fair and beauteous 
gardens ; that even these few must speedily disappear when 
parents shall have been aroused from their stolid apathy; 
when they shall have been awakened from the fatal lethargy 
that yet benumbs their intellectual organs of vision, and pre- 



25 

vents them from seeing or appreciating the utility, importance 
and inherent dignity of the educational profession ; when the 
light of truth shall have penetrated and illumined the dark 
chambers of their contracted minds, and a sense of justice shall 
have constrained them to relax the tenacious grasp with which 
they now withhold from the faithful teacher of their children 
a pecuniary compensation in some degree commensurate with 
the value of his services. 

This brings me to the consideration of another objection, 
generally advanced by young persons when advised to select 
the educational profession — I mean the uniform inadequacy 
of the compensation for educational services. This is a valid 
and substantial objection, but yet not of such overpowering 
magnitude as to deter an effort to weaken its force, if not to re- 
move it altogether. 

Every young person of prudence and discretion looks, or 
ought to look, to the pecuniary compensation likely to be 
awarded to the faithful performance of the duties about to de- 
volve on him, in whatever vocation he may think of select- 
ing, 

I shall not here enter into a detail of the relative emoluments 
of all the various vocations of life, but shall deem it sufficient 
for our present purpose to compare those of the teacher with 
those of the lawyer or physician. First, then, let us suppose 
two young men just arrived at the verge of manhood, and to 
have just completed a course of collegiate education, both en- 
dowed with equal moral and mental attainments. The one 
chooses the profession of education, the other that of law or 
medicine. The former, in accordance with common custom, 
enters at once upon the duties of his profession, at a salary of 
cay $300 per annum. The latter commences a course of study, 
preparatory for the practice of law or medicine, at an expense 
of $300 per annum. Suppose two years to have elapsed, and 
the young lawyer or physician is looking about for some suita- 
ble location wherein he may commence the practice of his pro- 
fession, the attainment of which has already imposed upon 
him a cost of $600. The young educator has had two years* 
experience and practice, and if he has been diligent, must have 
acquired some expertness, and a corresponding reputation in 



26 

his profession, besides the earnings of his two years' services, 
say $600. At the end then of two years from the date of their 
departure from college, the difference in their pecuniary con- 
dition, supposing it to have been originally the same to both, 
is $1,200 in favor of the teacher. The latter may now rea- 
sonably expect and readily obtain an increase of salary. "We 
will suppose his annual income increased to $400 for the next 
two years. This enables him with rigid economy to lay by 
$200 per annum, or $400 in the two years. The young law- 
yer or physician will have done very well, if he shall have 
realized enough ; not one in ten, or perhaps I should have said 
in fifty, does so, to defray his expenses. At the end then of 
four years from the completion of their collegiate course, the 
balance-sheet will exhibit a difference between the pecuniary 
conditions of the young lawyer or physician and the teacher 
of $1,600 in favor of the latter. From this time the income of 
the former, if successful and fortunate in the selection of a field 
for practice, will rapidly increase, and he may ultimately at- 
tain to what the world calls wealth. Of those, however, who 
thus succeed in either of what are called the " learned profes- 
sions," ^(xr excellence^ the numerical proportion is exceedingly 
small. I am in fact prepared to say, on credible authority, that 
not more than six-tenths of those who graduate as lawyers or 
physicians succeed at all in their profession, or realize there- 
from one-fourth of the sum expended in its attainment. The 
increase in the income of the teacher is always slow, though 
less uncertain, continuing however to enlarge to — say, as an 
average, — $800. There it is apt to become stationary ; but the 
habits of firugality he has, if prudent, acquired, will generally 
enable him, from this small salary, to rear in comfort and 
educate respectably his children, and even to lay by a small 
sum yearly for the support of his old age, or the relief of 
fu;fcure infirmities. 

\Thus it appears, on a fair and candid review of the respec- 
tive pecuniary advantages of the several professions, that those 
of education are not so far below those of others as at first view 
they appear to be : the great difference being that the lawyer, 
physician and others may hope to become wealthy, and by this 
hope may be stimulated to the highest exertions of their va- 



27 

rious faculties. ( The teacher knows that however eminent and 
laseful he may become in his profession, he can never become 
distinguished for wealth; yet he may feel sure of the means of 
a comfortable support for himself and family, ^nd if sufficiently 
frugal and economical, of having acquired, before being over- 
taken by the infirmities of age, a sufficient sum to secure him 
from penury. 

I admit, however, that if we take into view the relative 
•utility and importance of the several professions, and the in- 
trinsic value of the services performed by their respective 
members, the difference in the remunerations is immense. 
The value of the services of the competent and faithful edu- 
cator to society, is absolutely incalculable. His responsibility 
is almost immeasurable, while his duties are perhaps more 
really arduous than those that pertain to any other vocation. 
The very inadequate compensation awarded to them is there- 
fore a just ground of complaint, and would doubtless operate 
as an entire exclusion from the profession of all who have any 
pretensions to great talents or extensive attainments, did not 
the profession itself possess those intrinsic advantages to which 
I have heretofore adverted. 

(There are various other objections advanced by young per- 
sons to this profession, but they are all of minor importance^ 
and generally disappear spontaneously after a few years of 
practice in the school-room. 

For instance, young men complain of the confinement for a 
certain number of hours every day. In answer to this, I would 
inquire in what profession confinement and close attention to 
business are not required of one who expects to meet with 
success in his vocation ? Again, they talk of monotony — a 
constant repetition every day of the same exercises. Now 
where would one find more variety than in the school-room — 
variety of disposition — ^variety of talent — ^variety of habit — 
variety of application? Here, then, is abundant scope for 
variety of experiment on the part of the teacher, for the art of 
discrimination) and the means of modifying and meliorating 
the various moral and mental propensities of his pupils. The 
general character of the recitations must, it is true, be the 
Bame substantially every day, or at least every week ; but the 



28: 

modes in wHcli these recitations are made, and the degrees of 
facility with which they are comprehended, are as varied as 
the characters and capacities of the pnpils, and call for a pro- 
portionate variety in the methods of discipline and illustration 
used by the teacher. 

Again, they are not few who commence the duties of teach- 
ing, but subsequently abandon them, assigning as a reason 
the interference of parents and the difficulty of satisfying 
them, or the vexations and annoyances from the pupils them- 
selves. The interference of parents is a thing that ought to be 
expected by every teacher. It arises in some cases from 
anxious solicitude with respect to their children, and in others 
from the want of entire confidence in the teacher. The first 
motive is natural and commendable — ^the second is a conse- 
quence of the too frequent incapacity of the instructor. In- 
terference of this kind will speedily cease, as soon as the pa- 
rent shall have received satisfactory evidence that the teacher 
is really devoted to the improvement of his pupils, and that he 
possesses the qualifications requisite to accomplish this object. 
The annoyances from the pupils themselves are indeed nu- 
merous, and often extremely vexatious ; but what profession 
is free from annoyances and vexations ? Those incident to 
the duties of the educator are such as generally yield to the 
influence of time and patience. Much trouble is often caused 
to the teacher by the want of proper self-ccmtrol. One can 
never carry out an effective system of discipline, until he has 
acquired complete control over his own feelings and passions. 
This itself is a work of labor and of time. Other annoyances 
arise from the frequent questions asked by the pupils on mat- 
ters connected with their lessons. These are often such as the 
pupils themselves might have found satisfactory answers to, if 
they would have taken the trouble to think for themselves. 
They are often on the other hand of a different character, and 
require the aid of the teacher to solve satisfactorily and intel- 
ligibly. Not unfrequently it happens that the teacher is him- 
self at a loss. He is unable, from want of knowledge, to give 
the desired explanation. Here, then, we have the root of the 
evil. He feels mortified and vexed at his own ignorance, and 
fears lest his pupils^ discovering his incapacity, may regard hina 



29 

witli contempt, or at least that lie may to some extent forfeit 
their respect. The truth is, not one in a thousand of those 
who begin to teach, is at first fully competent to instruct in 
all the branches usually taught even in a common English 
school. His first year especially must therefore be devoted to 
study, and in proportion as his knowledge and experience are 
enlarged, he will find his duties gradually becoming more easy, 
more pleasing, and more acceptable, both to parents and pupils. 
This subject, I have no doubt, is more interesting to me than 
it is to most of those who hear me, and I could continue to 
speak upon it longer without becoming weary; but aware that 
I have already exceeded the limits of an ordinary lecture, I 
shall here conclude with the remark, that my object has been 
in part to induce young men of real merit to engage in the 
duties of education as a profession. I have shown, I think, 
that the mental and moral character of our population is 
greatly dependent on the character and capacity of the edu- 
cator. It follows that by elevating the latter, we shall confer 
a vast benefit on society. In proportion as the profession is 
filled by deserving and competent young men and women, 
the undeserving will be excluded, the profession will be ele- 
vated in public estimation, and the people, becoming more and 
more sensible of the value of educational services, will gradual- 
ly also become more willing to pay for such services a com- 
pensation that will ensure in future a supply of competent 
teachers adequate to the demands of our rapidly increasing 
population. 



THE 



TEACHEE AS HE IS, 



AND 



%^ le dbunlit fa le : 



OB, 



REMAKKS ON THE SOCIAL POSITION, RESPONSIBILITIES, DUTIES, 
AND REMUNERATION OF THE TEACHER. 



Bg a iUcmber of tl)e dommon Srijool (Sonvtntm^ 
HELD AT BALTIMORE, DECEMBER, 1850. 



/ 



THE 



TEACHEE AS HE IS, &c. 



The following chapters, which originally appeared in the New- York 
"Journal of Education," were by its editors thus introduced to the notice 
cf its readers : 

" We have the privilege this week of commencing a series of Essays^ 
which, in point of abihty and practical acquaintance in the writer with 
teaching, exhibit as much of the wisdom of experience, and as much know- 
ledge of the world, and of the social condition of the teacher, as anything 
we have ever read. We ask for these papers a considerate perusal. They 
treat of ' The Teacher as he is, and as he ought to be ; or, remarks on the social 
posiiiorij responsibilities, duties, and remuneration of the Teacher.^ " 

CHAPTER I. 

Social Position of the Teacher, 

" Is tlie gentleman wliom I met at your house yesterday an 
acquaintance of yours, Sir ?" 

" No ; lie called on me the day before, and presented a letter 

of introduction from a friend, the Honorable , commending 

him very earnestly to my favorable notice, and I felt it due to 
my friend to pay him some attention. He appears to be an 
intelligent, well-informed man." 

" Yes, quite so for one of his calling." 

" What ! you know him then ?" 

*' I have seen him before ; he is a schoolmaster' who formerly. 

taught in , and I am informed he is about to attempt the 

establishment of a school here." 

" Is it possible? It is very strange that my friend did not 
mention this. Schoolmasters are well enough in their way, 



34 

but tTiey are not such persons as I should wish to introduce to 
our circle. How exceedingly thoughtless some persons are in 
giving letters of introduction ; really one should be cautious 
about noticing them." 

*' You are right ; a mere letter of introduction, even from a 
valued friend, should not be regarded as a passport for its 
bearer to one^s dinner-table, and much less to a select circle, 
such as that for instance of which you, Sir, are at once the 
centre and the ornament. It is true, your elevated position 
cannot be depressed by association with persons of this charac- 
ter ; yet your friends might think it indicative of indifference 
to their feelings." 

*'True; and yet I do assure you,. no such apathy exists; 
and, moreover, I shall not only take measures to remove such 
an impression from the minds of my other friends, but I will 
most carefully guard against a similar faux pas in future." 

The preceding dialogue is the substance of a conversation 
which actually took place between two gentlemen of the 
''upper ten," residents of a city not a hundred miles from the 
metropolis of this free and independent Eepublic ; a nation 
whose boasted motto is " liberty and equality," equal rights 
and equal privileges for all classes of citizens ; where genuine 
merit constitutes the only avenue to the various stations of 
honor and dignity. 

It illustrates the social position of the educator, not in one 
city only, but in every city — nay, in almost every village of 
the Union, notwithstanding the empty professions, constantly 
emanating from the tongues of statesmen, or the pens of 
accomplished writers on education, of respect for the high 
calling, the unmeasurable responsibihties it involves, and the 
consequent importance of the duties that devolve on him who 
assumes them. 

Again, the dignity of an office, and the respect which is due 
to it, are usually estimated according to the jpecuniary value 
assigned to its duties. 

In the city of Baltimore, which boasts of the excellence and 
efficiency of her public school system, the highest salary paid 
for educational services (to the Principal of the High-school) 
is $1200 : while, in the lower grades of schools, the compensa- 



85 

tion to teachers ranges between $600 and $250. In tlie com- 
mon schools throughout the Union, the average salary cannot 
amount to $400, an income scarcely adequate to a fair remu- 
neration for the services of an ordinary mercantile clerk, much 
less those of a skilful mechanic. Even the mere copyist — nay, 
the hack-driver, or the industrious laborer, may realize an 
equal sum for his services. 

And this is the salary fixed as a compensation for the ser- 
vices of a teacher, not by those really ignorant of the extensive 
and varied qualifications, moral and intellectual, requisite for 
the efficient performance of the duties that devolve on him, or 
of the difficulty, labor and expense involved in their acquire- 
ment, but by the most enlightened and intelligent citizens of 
the Kepublic ! 

Is further evidence needed of the humble estimation in which 
the vocation of the educator is held ? 

It may be found in the fact, that however much may be said 
on the necessity of special preparation by long and thorough 
training, and the importance of normal schools for the pur- 
pose, yet the public, or almost any portion thereof, feel them- 
selves abundantly competent to conduct the examinations of 
applicants for employment as teachers, and to decide upon their 
respective merits. School commissioners, inspectors, and 
trustees are selected, not from any reputed knowledge of the 
peculiar qualifications requisite in the candidates, or of the 
manner in which their duties ought to be performed, but sim- 
ply with reference to their general reputation as men of infor- 
mation and intelligence ; that is, persons of ordinary intelligence 
are supposed to be endowed with the ability to judge intuitively 
of the amount and degree of certain qualifications, the attain- 
ment of which by that inferior order ofheings^ who are wilhng 
to devote themselves to the vocation of teaching, requires years 
of study and diligent training. Nor is this absurd presumption 
confined to the ignorant and uncultivated ; it is equally visible 
in those who enjoy the highest reputation as men of sound 
judgment and liberal attainments — ^nay, in those who are most 
loud and eloquent in defence of the honor and dignity of the 
educational vocation, and in denujiciation of those who would 



36 

withliold from it its due meed of commendation and merited 
compensation. 

Individuals wlio would at once avow their unfitness if called 
upon to examine a candidate for admission to tlie bar, tlie pul- 
pit, the practice of medicine, even the office of an overseer on 
a plantation, entertain no doubt of their ability to conduct the 
examination of a candidate for employment in the intellectual 
vineyard, and to superintend the operations there in process. 

How low then must be the estimate placed upon the natural 
capacity of the teacher — how low his position in the scale of 
intellectual and social gradation — who requires years of men- 
tal toil to elevate, his moral and intellectual endowments to a 
level with those of the manual laborer ! 

Such is the true social position, in this enlightened country, 
of him who devotes himself to the vocation of an educator, and 
such the facts by which it is incontrovertibly demonstrated; 
facts which, while they illustrate the pride and inconsistency 
of human vanity, show likewise the folly and absurdity of all 
attempts to secure a competent supply of efficient educators 
while the present state of things exists. 

How can it be expected that men conscious of real merit and 
lofty endowments, will devote themselves to an employment 
proverbially arduous and trying to the physical and mental 
constitution, which promises in the future only ingratitude, 
poverty and degradation. Yet it cannot be denied that there 
are occasionally to be met with, among the teachers of youth, 
gentlemen whose character and talents command the admira- 
tion of their fellow-men, and who would have been deemed 
worthy of the highest esteem and respect, had they been mem- 
bers of either of what are called the '^ learned professions." 
Occupying, however, the position of schoolmasters, they 
necessarily participate in the odium and reproach that belong 
to this order, and are uniformly suspected of possessing some 
unseen defect, which justifies their exclusion from honorable 
and distinctive association with the more elevated classes of 
society ; the abstract fact of their employment as teachers be- 
ing regarded OS, prima facie evidence of their absolute inferiority. 

This is no picture of the imagination, no exaggerated picture 



37 

of tlie teaclier's social condition ; it is but a naked statement 
of facts which are daily visible to all of ordinary powers of 
perception, who take note of passing events around them. 

The degraded position of the educator is in truth at once 
a cause and a natural consequence of the facts detailed: a 
cause, since a well-grounded conviction that no moral worth, 
no literary or scientific attainment, compatible with laborious 
and wearisome official duties, can elevate the teacher to hon- 
orable distinction or public esteem — that to him, too, are firmly 
closed the avenues to wealth or pecuniary independence and 
all the enjoyments which it commands, necessarily tends to the 
depression of mental energy, and to moral suicide. Men will 
not struggle long or vigorously for the attainment of any ob- 
ject whose possession is plainly beyond their reach. However 
zealously young teachers may devote themselves to the duties 
of their calling on their first entrance upon it, they are doomed 
soon to experience the withering and sickening effects of dis- 
appointed hope, and rapidly sink into the slough of despair. 
Finding their merits unappreciated and their services unre- 
munerated, nine-tenths, if not a larger portion, not only become 
apathetic to the interests of the youth committed to their tute- 
lary care, but descend to dissipation and other immoralities, 
which soon degrade their characters to a level with the posi- 
tion which the public had previously assigned to their vocation, 
and thus contribute to the perpetuation of their own degrada- 
tion and that of their fellow- teachers. 

The degraded position of the educator is a natural conse- 
quence of the facts detailed, because men of genuine merit and 
high endowments either will not enter at all upon the calling, 
or will not continue to devote themselves to it, after having 
discovered by experience the reproach which it entails upon 
them. 

It is humiliating beyond description to the natural pride of 
a man conscious of profound attainments in those branches 
of knowledge requisite to qualify one for the efficient per- 
formance of educational duties, to submit to an examination by 
men whose highest achievements in science reach not beyond 
the turning of a horse-shoe, the construction of a building, the 
compounding of drugs, the delivery of a soporific discourse or 

3 



38 

a boisterous harangue before a jury : to bave bis professional 
labors superintended, commented upon, and criticised, by tbose 
wbose acquirements extend scarcely beyond tbe ability to 
measure a yard of tape or weigh a pound of sugar and calcu- 
late bis petty profits on either. To such humiliation men of 
merit will not voluntarily submit, and consequently, where no 
other means of escape presents itself, they abandon the vocation 
in disgust. And what is the result ? Their places are filled 
by those whose stupidity, torpor, or ignorance, renders them 
insensible to shame and contempt, or whose conscious inferi- 
ority inakes them wilhng to be subjected to any degree of civil 
or moral degradation, provided only they receive the means 
of procuring a scanty subsistence, or of gratifying their vitiated 
animal appetites. Enough has been said to demonstrate, 
beyond all controversy, the truth of this proposition — that 
notwithstanding the professions of esteem and respect for the 
vocation of the teacher, its real position in public estimation is 
scarcely elevated above that of a day laborer ; and in this 
demonstration some of the causes that have led to this mon- 
strous anomaly have been incidentally alluded to : but as the 
ultimate object of the writer is to suggest a remedy for this 
moral evil, so pregnant with disastrous consequences to the 
best interests of the Republic, it is deemed expedient to go 
more fully into detail, in order that the reader may be better 
qualified to decide upon the value and adaptation of the sugges- 
tions that may hereafter be offered. 



CHAPTER II. 



Causes in operation to produce and perpetuate the degraded position 

of the Educator, 

First among these may be mentioned the inadequate views 
of parents on the subject of education. The word education is 
known to be derived from a compound Latin verb, signifying 
to draw out. The term, therefore, implies the drawing out 
or development of faculties previously existing in the mind. 
The mind itself has been compared by an ancient writer, whose 



39 

sentiments on education liave not been excelled during a lapse 
of more than 2000 years, to a seed, wliicli contains all tlie stam- 
ina of tlie future plant, and all those principles of perfection 
to which it aspires in its future growth, and to which, unless 
obstructed in its progress, it ultimately attains, though by slow 
and gradual stages. 

In like manner our minds are completely formed at first. 
They want no powers, no instinct or affection that are es- 
sential to their nature ; but these are left rude and undeveloped, 
that skill, industry and virtue may have ample scope in 
unfolding, cultivating, and bringing them to maturity : this is 
the province of education. There is, however, this essential 
difference between the growth of the vegetable and the de- 
velopment of the embryo mind : 

The former progresses in obedience to certain laws, which 
it can neither alter nor violate ; the latter, though it possesses 
an equal tendency to enlargement, needs the skilful hand of 
the moulder to give proper direction to the development of its 
latent powers ; being from its fallen nature more prone to de« 
formity than to symmetry, more apt to produce at maturity 
fruits of evil than of good. 

The mind has also been described as a kind of tabula rasa^ 
or a piece of blank paper, since it bears no original inscriptions 
when it comes into the world, but owes all the characters after- 
wards drawn upon it to the impressions made upon our senses 
by observation, custom, or education. But here again the sim- 
ilitude is only partial ; for the tabula rasa is entirely passive, 
and remains as originally formed, until operated upon by the 
hand of the engraver. The mind is active, and spontane- 
ously assumes some new form or shape. If it do not receive 
correct impressions, it will most certainly receive wrong ones ; 
and if its possessor be not accustomed to good habits, bad ones 
will assuredly be contracted. 

The comparison by Addison, who probably borrowed the 
idea from Socrates, of a human mind to a block of marble, is 
likewise defective from similar causes. 

Again : the plant soon reaches maturity, accomplishes the end 
of its creation, and dies ; the tabula rasa, or blank paper, may scon 
be covered with all the impressions or engravings it can receive, 



40 

and tlieii be destroyed : the marble figure, too, remains as it came 
from the hands of the sculptor, unless subjected to the ravages 
of the elements, or destruction from other causes ; but the mind 
is immortal, its development and growth perpetual ; its form 
or shape, its future fruits of good or evil, its happiness or misery 
throughout the interminable ages of eternity, dependent upon 
those to whom are entrusted its early culture and direction. 

The proper object of education, then, is so to develop all the 
faculties of youth — moral, mental and physical — as to produce, 
so far as human agency can do, perfect men, and not simply to 
teach the arts of reading, writing, ciphering, &c. And since 
the process of moral and mental education is progressive, not 
limited to the period of boyhood or youth, nor probably by the 
duration of time itself, it is important that these faculties re- 
ceive, during the progress of their development, an impulsive 
energy, that will continue to operate with unabated vigor when 
their possessors shall have passed from the school-room or the 
college hall to take their respective stations on the great thea- 
tre of life. 

Are such the views generally entertained by parents ? Clear- 
ly, no. By a large majority no definite views are entertained 
on this momentous subject. 

Men have learned from their own experience, or from other 
sources, that a knowledge of certain branches, as of reading, 
writing, arithmetic, &;c., is necessary to qualify their sons and 
daughters to occupy a respectable position in after life, or to 
conduct the various business operations that may devolve on 
them ; and they are usually satisfied to commit their children 
to the care of those who ^ro/es5 to instruct in these branches. 

But little importance is attached to the moral character of 
the teacher, and no efiBicient test is applied to ascertain even 
the amount of his literary qualifications ; the mere fact of his 
offering himself as a teacher being regarded as satisfactory evi- 
dence of their possession. 

In some sections of the country legal enactments exist re- 
quiring that applicants for employment as teachers in schools 
receiving pecuniary aid from the public treasury, shall be ex- 
amined by the local board of trustees before being engaged. 
But in a large majority of such cases the trustees themselves 



41 

are illiterate men, and consequently incapable of deciding npon 
tlie merits of the respective candidates. 

Even in the State of Connecticut, where it is said that the 

write is as four to one hundred, at an examination of a teacher 
by a school committee in one of the districts of this land of 
Steady habits, one of the questions put to the candidate for 
employment was — '' Where is the District of Columbia ?" The 
first reply was — " In Vermont." 

He was given to understand that that was not exactly its lo- 
cality. He then shifted it to other quarters, and after having 
made it perambulate various parts of the Union, the examiners 
and examinee settled down in the learned conclusion that the 
District of Columbia was partly in Yirginia and partly in Dela- 
ware, and there ended the strife of tongues, except as it may 
have been displayed in the intercourse of the master and his 
pupils, as it is almost needless to add, the applicant passed the 
ordeal successfully and was admitted to employment. 

Mr. Taylor, in his '-'■District School" declares that it is no un- 
common thing for the examining committees, in the State of 
New- York, to allow applicants to pass, because they happen to 
be third or fourth cousins to someone of their honorable body. 

The writer himself, while principal of one of the county 
academies of Maryland, received application for admission to 
the school from a young man, about nineteen years of age, who 
stated that he wished to enter for one quarter to study English 
grammar ; his intention being to make application, at the ex- 
piration of that period, for employment as a teacher of a certain 
primary school which he designated. 

He was of course admitted ; but after having devoted the spe- 
cified period to the study of English grammar, he concluded 
that he had not yet fully mastered this branch, and it might 
be for his advantage to remain another quarter. It was about 
this time that one day, during the usual recess, he approached 
the writer, and very gravely put the following question : '' Dr., 
IVe hear'n folks say the world's round, and I thought I'd jist 
make bold to ask what you thought about it ; as for my part, 
I don't see any reason in't, and I don't believe it." — Here was 
an evidence of profound ignorance, such as was not anticipated; 



42 

and the writer attempted, but in vain, to dissuade the young 
man from his purpose to become a teacher, unless he could af- 
ford to remain at school a year or two longer. All arguments 

for this purpose prOVfdnnavailinfj TTi^jmnno'TYio-r. +:_,-<. a, 

till the expiration of the second quarter, to devote himself to 
the study of English grammar, and at the expiration of that 
time confidently demanded a certificate of his ability to con- 
duct the duties of a primary school. His demand was of course 
rejected, but nevertheless he passed without difficulty the exami- 
nation hy the hoard of trustees^ and received the desired appoint- 
ment. Such facts as these remind one strongly of what is re- 
lated of one of the schoolmasters in the Ban de la Roche^ when 
Mr. Steuben first went there. 

"He had been employed in that capacity for the excellent 
reason that he had become too old and infirm to take care of 
the pigs ; being thus enfeebled and incapacitated, he had been 
appointed — as to a business next in importance — to take care 
of the children." 

On being interrogated as to Avhat he taught them, he re- 
plied, with perfect naivete — " Nothing." 

And to the question why he taught them nothing, he an- 
swered, with equal simplicity — "Because I know nothing my- 
self" 

From what has been said, it is plain that even where laws 
exist, requiring that applicants for employment as teachers be 
examined before being engaged, no efficient security is pro- 
vided against the admission of persons, morally or intellectually 
incompetent to perform the duties of educators. Among the 
trustees of academies and colleges are often found gentlemen 
who in their youth enjoyed and improved the advantages of 
a liberal education; but these can hardly be supposed to 
retain, with any degree of accuracy, a knowledge of those 
branches usually taught in the higher educational seminaries ; 
and consequently, for admission to the office of an instructor in 
these, no examination usually takes place, the trustees depend- 
ing upon evidences of qualification exhibited in diplomas and 
other testimonials. How little reliance can be placed upon 
these, is manifest from the fact that graduates are often met 
with ivho cannot translate their oivn diplomas ; and that testimo- 



43 

nials of a general character are very frequently given npon the 
slightest grounds — sometimes to gratify a friend of the appli- 
cant, at others, to be relieved from importunity, and more fre- 
quently, perhaps, because of the very humble estimate gener- 
ally entertained of the ability required to conduct the educa- 
tion of youth. 

Again, there is a largo. Tinraber of schools in every state 
over which no superintendence whatever is required by law. 
These are denominated private schools, and abound in all the 
larger cities of the Union. 

Here no test is required beyond a mere advertisement, 
sometimes containing a long list of unauthorized references ; 
and it very often happens that those whose qualifications are 
most meagre have the greatest number of pupils, since they 
resort to means for obtaining scholars which men of merit 
would scorn to adopt. 

ISTo stronger evidence than this can be adduced of the very 
low estimation in which is held the educational vocation. 

If people wish to employ a shoemaker, a tailor, a carpenter, 
or even a laborer, they first obtain satisfactory proof of his 
ability ; and no man commits his son to the care of the mecha- 
nic, to be instructed in any trade or art, without abundant tes- 
timonials of his skill and honesty. In the selection of one who 
is to be entrusted with the development and cultivation of the 
moral and intellectual faculties — who is to give form and shape, 
physical and mental, to the future man — no care or discrimina- 
tion is deemed necessary, and no inquiry is made. 

The duties of this insignificant and contemptible office can be 
performed by any one who has the ability to read, write and 
cipher. 

What is the consequence of this state of things ? 

The intellectual vineyard has become a receptacle for the 
refuse of every trade, art and profession. Here are found the 
lame, the halt, the maimed, the drunkard, the knave, and the 
hypocrite ; a perfect farrago of thriftless adventurers of every 
grade, too lazy to work, and too poor to live without it, and 
more fit to be peddlers of wooden nutmegs than of nouns, par- 
ticiples, verbs and adjectives ; better suited to make hickory 
hams than to undertake the task of training the youth of a 



44 

free nation to the knowledge and love of tlieir duties as citizens 
and men. 

Can it now be a matter of surprise that the teacher bears 
upon his brow the mark of Cain ? Can he who condescends 
to assume the degraded position of an educator, affect wonder 
that he is regarded as an outcast from refined society ? Can he 
expect to wallow in filth and escape with -ansoiled clothes? 

There is yet another, and by no means the least powerful 
reason for this degradation. 

The impressions of childhood and youth are proverbially 
the most permanent. Children are much better judges of cha- 
racter than they are generally conceived to be; and their esti- 
mate is often more true and accurate than that of adults. Their 
early years are usually spent with that class of beings called 
schoolmasters or schoolmistresses. Qualities which they wit- 
ness in individual teachers are very naturally ascribed to the 
whole class. 

If, therefore, they find in them manners rude and unrefined, 
tempers irascible, language vulgar or profane, they not only 
regard them with disgust or terror, but attribute to the whole 
fi:aternity similar vices or defects ; an,d all their future associ- 
ations with teachers and their vocation become unpleasant or 
revolting. These feelings and sentiments too are transmitted 
to their posterity, and give additional impulse to the abstract 
causes in operation to heap odium and contempt upon the edu- 
cational vocation. 

Having thus clearly proved the truth of the assertion, that 
the " teacher as he is" occupies a degraded position in society, 
and the still more melancholy fact that this position is not 
very far below his real merits ; and having also adduced am- 
ple reasons for this grievous evil so pregnant with mischief to 
the best interests of the nation, I shall proceed in the follow- 
ing chapter to consider the responsibilities that belong to his 
vocation, and the duties which they involve, reserving for the 
future some remarks on the " teacher as he ought to be." 



45 



CHAPTER III. 

Besponsihilities of the Teacher. 

These may be best understood by considering, first, tlie 
nature and importance of the trust reposed in Mm. 

Every human being that is ushered into the world is com- 
posed of a soul or mind, which is an emanation from the Deity, 
and like its Source immortal ; and a body, which is designed as 
the temporary habitation of the soul, and which, like the earth 
on which it is to remain its appointed time, is subject to decay 
and ultimate corruption. 

Each of these has its own peculiar attributes ; yet so inti- 
mately associated are they during the whole period of their co- 
existence, that one cannot be materially affected without 
influencing in some degree the condition of the other. A 
deformed or diseased body exercises a potent influence over 
the condition of the mind ; and a diseased and corrupted soul 
as frequently leads to physical suffering. It is, therefore, 
important that each, in its incipient stages of development, 
should receive an appropriate share of care and attention from 
those to whose guidance and direction they may be committed. 
In both there is a natural tendency to growth and enlargement ; 
in each there exists a natural instinct to seek and appropriate 
nourishment suitable to its peculiar wants ; yet the appetites 
of both are prone to become vitiated. 

In the case of adults the dictates of reason interpose to 
obviate this proneness to the formation or indulgence of mor- 
bid appetites ; but during the period of infancy, childhood and 
youth, the selection of the proper food for the nourishment 
both of mind and body, as to quality and quantity, is entrusted 
to the discrimination and judgment of the natural parents, or 
such assistants as they may caU to their aid. 

For the supply of the physical wants of their children, most 
parents are abundantly competent by their natural endow- 
ments to provide, and to the performance of this duty they are 
impelled by that instinctive fondness which they, in common 
with the lower orders of animal beings, entertain for their own 
offspring. 



46 

But for a knowledge of tlie species, quality, and quantity of 
food suitable for tlie nutrition of their minds — for the develop- 
ment and growth, of their moral and intellectual faculties — 

nature has made little or no provision, and for this, therefore, 
parents are dependent either on tiieir own mental acquirements 

or those of others. 

The mind having received from its Creator the stamp of im- 
mortality, being in truth an emanation from Deity himself^ is 
not like the body, which it inhabits, liable to absolute decay 
and ultimate death from the absence of suitable nourishment, 
but its future shape and form, its whole character, and its capa- 
city of usefulness and enjoyment, or for evil and misery, depend 
wholly upon the nature of the nutriment and the treatment 
which it receives in the incipient stages of its progress towards 
maturity. 

It is, perhaps, owing to the frequent incapacity of parents to 
provide food appropiiate to its wants, that the mind is endued 
by its Maker with an instinctive appetite, and the means of 
gratification within certain limits independently of human 
agency. Thus God has made the several senses of hearing, 
seeing, smelling, tasting, &c., so many channels for the con- 
veyance of nutrition to the infantile mind ; but it is the duty 
of parents to guard against the admission, by these channels, 
of food which may tend rather to deformity than to symmetry 
in the future developments. Hence the necessity of keeping 
from the eye of children every act of doubtful propriety, every 
scene which could by any possibility give rise to evil thought 
or evil practice. In the hearing of a child no word should be 
uttered indicative of impurity, obscenity, or impiety, for the 
young immortal is incapable of exercising any discrimination 
with regard to the quality of the intellectual food placed before 
it, and seizes with equal avidity that which tends to the pro- 
motion of mental purity and healthfulness, and that which 
tends to corruption — nay, from its fallen nature, it is more 
prone -to the latter than to the former. 

But, besides the duty devolved upon the parent to make 
suitable provision for the mental, moral, and physical wants 
of his offspring, he is also required to see that the various 
faculties be properly exercised, since, without proper exercise, 



47 

healthful digestion cannot ensue, and without digestion, food, 
however wholesome in itself, can convey no nutrition either to 
the intellectual or physical system. 

TT _i__ X T J T_ Tn j.T__ j^^ — r Zu.^ X..:^^!^, 

the child, like the lower orders of animals, is instinctively im- 
pelled to the exercise of its physical faculties, and the pleasure 
which this exercise affords continues generally to operate as a 
sufficient incitement during the entire period of youth. And 
could we from the first follow the dictates of nature in the 
selection and the administering of intellectual food, it cannot 
be doubted but a similar incentive would be found operative 
in inducing a proper degree of mental exercise; for it can 
hardly be imagined that God, who bestowed upon man the 
ennobling powers of a mind susceptible of infinite expansion, 
and of unending enjoyment commensurate with its enlarge- 
ment, should not have implanted in his constitution not only a 
desire for appropriate mental food, but also a natural fondness 
for that species or degree of exercise which is necessary to 
promote its digestion. 

During the first few years of a child's existence, the objects 
by w^hich it is surrounded afford a sufficient su]Dply of whole- 
some nutriment to the mind, while the investigation of their 
nature and properties, and the comparison of these with each 
other, afford sufficient mental exercise ; but these sources are 
soon exhausted, and the duty of procuring a fresh supply 
devolves upon the parent. 

It is now that the greatest discretion and the most skilfal 
discrimination become necessary. The intellectual plant is 
about to bud, its petals are about to unfold themselves, and 
the fruits, which it is about to bear at maturity, of good or evil 
to itself and others, will depend upon the cultivation it now 
receives. In a few years more, its shape, its character and 
future destiny will have been determined, and, so far as human 
agency is concerned, .perhaps unalterably fixed. How immea- 
surably important then the duty that now devolves upon the 
parent ! How few among parents are capable of appreciating 
the magnitude of the responsibility that now rests upon them I 
How much fewer those that duly weigh it ! How much fewer 
still those who endeavor faithfully and assiduously to fulfil the 



m 

duties wMcli it imposes ! Of tlie latter, a large majority find 
themselves incompetent to the task. Sensible, however, of the 
necessity of its performance, they seek for some other person, 

may commit the momentous trust. One is found willing to 
receive it and to relieve him, in part at least, from his terrible 
responsibility — it is the professed educator. 

Upoa the latter now devolves the awful responsibility of 
training the youthful immortal for usefulness or mischief to 
his fellow-beings ; of happiness or misery to himself! 

Can such a trust be lightly committed? Can such a respon- 
sibility be thoughtlessly assumed? What parent so reckless 
of his own child's best interests? "What teacher so confident 
in his own powers— who, so indifferent to the awful account 
he will one day be called upon to give of his stewardship? 
Would to Grod there were fewer of either class! The intellec- 
tual vineyard would then be cumbered less by plants pro- 
ductive in no fruits of virtue or righteousness, and by vine- 
dressers who know neither the art of engrafting nor the use 
of the pruning-hook. 

The responsibility imposed by the Creator on the parent, 
and by the latter transferred in part to the educator, derives 
additional weight from the fact, that as in the year there is but 
one ssason appointed to the culture of the soil and the planting 
of seed, so in the natural life there is but one portion — that of 
childhood and youth — in which the intellectual soil is pecu- 
liarly capable of cultivation. 

If this season be permitted to pass unimproved, it is lost 
forever. Another spring may return, and another opportunity 
be afforded for planting the terrestrial soil, but even here the 
labor of the next year is more than doubled by the necessity 
of first eradicating the foul weeds that have overspread the 
plantation. The spring-time of human life never returns. 
Childhood and youth exist but once ; and if the proper culti- 
vation of the mind be then neglected, the opportunity is irre- 
trievably lost. Future diligence and assiduity may atone in 
some slight degree for the loss sustained, but no labor can 
entirely repair it. All who have had experience in teaching 
know how extremely difficult it is to render comprehensible to 



^" ' 49 

tlie mind of one wlio has passed the first twenty years of his 
life in sluggish indolence, principles which are perfectly within 
the comprehension of a child possessing ordinary intelligence 
at the age of ten or twelve years. 

The faculties of the mind, like those of the body, seem by 
long disuse to become paralyzed, and to lose as it were their 
vitaHty. The digestive and assimilative organs appear to be- 
come incapable of performing their legitimate functions. In- 
stauces do indeed occasionally present themselves where this 
result does not manifest itself, but these are so rare as not to 
affect the stability of the position assumed. 

But even were it otherwise ; and were the human mind 
equally susceptible of cultivation at any and every period of 
human life, yet so numerous are the obstacles to intellectual 
development and cultivation after a man has reached that 
period in his existence, when the animal passions and propen- 
sities have acquired full vigor, when the imperious demands 
which physical nature puts forth for the supply of her wants 
are multiplied, that comparatively little could be accomplished 
by the great bulk of mankind in the way of mental melioration. 



CHAPTEK lY. 

Duties of the Teacher. 



From the responsibility of the professed educator, we pass 
to a brief consideration of the du.ties which they involve. 

Upon this branch of the subject it is the less necessary to 
dwell, because their general character may be sufficiently as- 
certained from the perusal of the foregoing chapter. But 
since a prominent object of the writer is to suggest, for the 
consideration of the people, a method by which the public 
school system may be improved, and since this method will 
have special reference to the qualifications of teachers, it seems 
proper that clear and distinct views should first be presented 
respecting the peculiar duties that devolve on them, that the 
nature and extent of those qualifications may be better under- 
stood. 



50 

The first duty of tlie teaclier, then, is to present to his 
pupils, by his life and conversation, a living illustration of the 
excellence of those precepts which he enjoins; a bright model 
of that form and figure, as far as humanity can present it, 
which he recommends for their imitation. 

Though not responsible in an equal degree for their moral 
or physical, as for their intellectual improvement, yet no pro- 
per opportunity should be neglected to instil into their minds 
correct views of the nature, design, and ultimate object of their 
creation ; of the relation which they bear to their great Father 
who is in Heaven^ and to their fellow-creatures on the earth ; 
of the insoluble connection between virtue and happiness, and 
between vice and misery. 

When it is remembered how much our social intercourse, as 
well as our respective callings, is affected by the character of 
our manners and that of those with whom we associate, the 
teacher will not consider it foreign to his office to cultivate in 
his pupils politeness of address and elegance of expression ; 
in a word, to infuse into their manners and conversation, as far 
as circumstances permit, all those graces that form the exter- 
nal characteristics of a well-bred gentleman. This branch of 
his duty also includes proper attention to their physical devel- 
opment, since the adventitious value of a jewel, Avhatever be 
its intrinsic worth, is materially affected by the quality of the 
case which contains it. 

He is to train them to habits of order, punctuality and 
economy ; of personal neatness and cleanliness. He is to instil 
correct notions of the various obligations which they owe to 
their Creator, to their country, their parents, their other 
relatives, and to themselves ; and to adduce convincing evidence 
that neither of these can be long neglected without certain 
detriment to their temporal and eternal interests. 

With regard to their intellectual faculties, he is to teach them 
that as these constitute the essential ground of man's superi- 
ority over the lower orders of the animal creation, so the 
various degrees of their development constitute the true basis 
of distinction between man and man ; that the powers of the 
mind, unlike those of the body, are susceptible of infinite ex- 
pansion, and are adapted to furnish, when accompanied and 



51 

directed by sound moral and religious principles, infinite 
sources of pure and never-ending enjoyments ; tliat in pro- 
portion as they are enlarged and strengthened, we not only 
approximate to a similitude to the Divinity^ but are constantly 
acquiring more just and comprehensive views of the attributes 
of the Divine Being, of his power, goodness, mercy and wis- 
dom, as exhibited in the wonderful operations of nature, and 
the wise and benevolent dispensations of his Peovidence ; and 
that the man who, " to a conscience void of offence towards 
God and towards men," adds a consciousness of mental supe- 
riority, may defy at once the envenomed shafts of envy and 
njalevolence. On his enjoyments, the ever- varying phases of 
this transitory hfe can produce but a momentary influence. 
The former cannot pierce the impenetrable armor in which he 
is clad ; the latter is based on a foundation which storms and 
tempests cannot reach, and which defies the destroying hand of 
time itself 

Such are some of the subjects which the intelligent and con- 
scientious teacher will feel it his duty to present, as time and 
opportunity offer, to the serious consideration of his pupils ; 
and if his admonitions be accompanied with a conviction on 
their part of the sincerity of his interest in their improvement 
and happiness ; above all, if he be himself in all things such a 
character as he recommends to their imitation, his words can- 
not fail ultimately to take effect. His love will be reciprocated, 
the good will esteem and admire him, the vicious or wayward 
will respect him, and refrain from evil habits through fear of 
offending him, and thereby incurring unpopularity or contempt 
from their fellow-pupils. 

Such is the general outline of the obligations that devolve 
on a teacher. Among his specific duties, that of government 
occupies the first rank. Without proper discipline there can 
be no system, and without system there can be no efiicient 
teaching, and of consequence no solid progress in mental or 
moral improvement. 

The ability to govern others can scarcely be acquired by 
one who has not learned to govern himself at all times and 
under all circumstances. The first duty in this department, 
then, is to acquire a perfect control over his own feelings and 



52 

passions. No indication of anger should ever be visible in bis 
countenance ; no expression indicative of tbe loss of self-pos- 
session sbould under any circumstances be permitted to escape 
bis lips. Next in order is undeviating punctuality. Tbe 
teacber sbould never, if possible, be one moment absent from 
bis post after tbe time for tbe commencement of business ; and 
tbe most prompt and regular attendance sbould bkewise be 
required of every pupil. Tbe absence of a pupil from bis seat 
for any period, however short, should never be permitted to 
pass unnoticed, or unpunished in some way, unless a satisfactory 
reason be assigned for it, by the absentee. 

Tbe same punctuabty should be observed with regard tp 
every exercise, of every individual of every class. 

With regard to recitations, the teacber sbould ever graduate 
the task according to the abibty of the pupil, and then require 
that this be perfectly prepared ; no excuse being ordinarily 
admitted for neglect of such preparation. When the work is 
not ready at tbe proper moment, the pupil should be invaria- 
bly required to perform it before he is dismissed for the day. 

Each recitation should be made at its appointed time, from 
which there should be no deviation. If, for instance, the time 
appointed for a certain recitation in arithmetic be from 12 M. 
to one P. M., every member of the class should distinctly 
understand that precisely at 12, he must be ready with his 
lesson. In like manner with every other branch, each recita- 
tion, whether it be daily, or on alternate days, should con- 
stantly and uniformly recur at the same hour, commencing as 
nearly as possible at the same moment. 

By this means he will gradually secure the aid of a most 
powerful auxiliary — ^that of habit. We all know alike from 
experience and observation, the great influence of habit on tbe 
moral character and deportment of individuals. Its influence 
is equally great on the intellectual character. There is a 
natural tendency in the nervous organs to recur at stated 
periods to the same exercise, and so powerful is the influence 
of this law, that even employments which were at first in a 
high degree unpleasant, subsequently become at once grateful 
and entertaining. In the exercises of a well-regulated school, 
however, no employment ordinarily required of the pupil 



53 

should be or need be unpleasant. The accomplished and well- 
trained educator may infuse into every lesson, however dry and 
uninteresting in the abstract, something to please or gratify his 
pupils. With a countenance always illumined with intelli- 
gence and softened with a smile, he may draw from the trea- 
sure of a well-stored mind, some practical example to illustrate 
an abstruse topic or to exhibit the utility of a particular branch 
of study ; or he may occasionally relieve the irksomeness of a 
dry recitation by the relation even of an appropriate anecdote. 

With regard to the branches of learning' which the profes- 
sional obligations of the educator require him . to teach, the 
extent and variety must alwaj^s depend either upon local cir- 
•oumstances, or upon the grade of the school which he is em- 
ployed toBuperintend. In the lowest grade, however, he should 
be prepared to instruct in spelling, reading or elocution, decla- 
mation or forensic eloquence, writing, arithmetic, geography, 
and history, English grammar, the elements of geometry, plane 
trigonometry, algebra, surveying, and physiology. In addi- 
tion to these and other branches appropriate to a thorough 
English education, the principal of an academy should be pre- 
pared to teach the ancient languages, with at least one of the 
modern languages. 

The aggregate number of hours daily appropriated to scho- 
lastic exercises, should not exceed six ; and during these the 
pupils should be relieved at intervals not greater than two 
hours, by short recesses of ten or twenty minutes. In addition 
to these six hours pupils should not ordinarily be required to 
spend more than one hour in study ; making in all, seven hours 
a day to be appropriated to intellectual labor. 

In the apportioning of lessons for preparation, it is of the 
highest importance that special reference be had to the indi- 
vidual capacities of the respective pupils ; and when, as must 
sometimes happen even in small classes, some diversity of 
natural ability is found to exist, the lesson, or lessons, should 
always be graduated according to the lowest capacity in the 
class. This will occasionally give rise to difficulties in finding 
full and active employment for the other members, but these 
may generally be obviated by assigning lessons in some extra 
branch to those of higher capacities. 

4 



54 

To sum up the duties of tlie professed educator : he is to 
receive under his care, guidance and direction, a heterogeneous 
multitude of young immortals, with faculties, habits and dis- 
positions, as varied as their features, complexions and physical 
formation. These incongruous materials he is to classify ac- 
cording to their prominent characteristics, and out of each he 
is expected to manufacture a man, approximating as near as 
humanity can do, to the perfection of an angel, and each, what- 
ever his natural qualities or endowments, to meet the expectations 
of the parent^ must be made to approximate this high standard 
a little more closely than any of his fellow-pupils. 

To accomplish all this, we shall proceed in our next to inquire 
what are the requisite qualifications ? And how are they to 
be obtained? 



CHAPTEE V. 

Qualifications, 

The first and most important qualification for rightly and 
effectively discharging the duties that devolve on the teacher 
of youth, is a sound, honest and enlightened understanding. 
This will lead the novitiate to weigh well the responsibility 
about to devolve on him, the duties it will impose, and the 
ability and labor requisite for their fulfilment. Since it is of 
the highest importance that the teacher possess the respect, es- 
teem and love of his pupils, he must exhibit in all his deport- 
ment the evidence of a pure and spotless character ; in all his 
professional intercourse with his pupils the possession of a 
thorough knowledge of all the branches he is required to 
teach ; in all his demeanor he should clearly manifest the in- 
fluence of kind and affectionate interest in all that concerns 
the happiness and welfare of his pupils. 

Courteous, mild and gentle, ever ready to encourage and 
commend diligence and well-doing, he must be prompt to 
check slight deviations from the path of duty, and firmly to 
rebuke a second offence, always remembering that it is more 



55 

easy to preserve order than to eradicate disorder. He must 
possess perfect control over his own passions. Nothing in the 
deportment of a teacher is more fatal to his success as a moral 
disciplinarian, than a frequent exhibition of passion or impa- 
tience, unless it be perhaps the use of vulgar and coarse epi- 
thets, applied to erring or indolent pupils. I refer to that kind of 
discipline, which, while it teaches, also disposes youth to practice 
the art of self-government, in contradistinction to the slavish 
subjection which is effected by means of physical force. Of all 
the numerous defects in the professional qualifications of teach- 
ers, none are more frequent, none more subversive of the ends 
of education, than that of the inability to govern — as youth 
should and may be governed. It is so much more easy, es- 
pecially to those of feelings not peculiarly sensitive, to govern 
their pupils by an occasional exhibition of physical power, 
and the occasional infliction, as a penalty of transgression, of 
physical suffering, that comparatively few are willing to resort 
to the more slow but yet more careful means of moral melio- 
ration, which a carefal study of individual habits and associa- 
tions will invariably suggest. 

Though to the possession of a kind heart, a sound and en- 
lightened understanding, a character of spotless purity, quick- 
ness of perception, a respect for his profession, love for the du- 
ties which it imposes, a man may add a thorough knowledge 
not only of the branches to be taught, but of such collateral 
departments as will farnish a constant supply of matter for il- 
lustration ; if he lack patience, self-control, or the ability to 
govern mainly and generally by moral agency, he is unfit to 
be entrusted with the tutelary care of youth. 

Aptness to teach is an indispensable requisite to success in the 
educational vocation. By " aptness to teach," I mean not only 
facility and skill in imparting knowledge, judgment in select- 
ing illustrations, and discretion in adapting them to the pecu- 
liar capacity and character of each pupil, and the peculiar na- 
ture of each subject, but also the faculty of infusing an interest 
into the subject of each recitation, of awakening the mind to 
thought, of training it to discipline — self-discipline — of inspiring 
it with longings for knowledge, truth and virtue, especially that 
best of all knowledge, the knowledge of its Creator. 



56 

But how, and when, and where, are these quahfications to 
be obtained ? Does nature confer them ? Will reading and 
study under the most accomplished masters confer them ? Are 
teachers manufactured at academies and colleges ? 

The medical profession is strikingly analogous to that of 
education ; and some light may be thrown on this portion of 
our subject, by considering how the physician acquires skill in 
ministering to the maladies incident to the body. Is it by the 
reading of the materia medica ? — the study of therapeutics — > 
the knowledge of anatomy and physiology ? Every intelligent 
mind will answer, no ; but by long and careful practice in the 
application of knowledge thus acquired, to the investigation 
and treatment of the multifarious diseases to which frail hu- 
manity is subject. 

Practice and experience are equally essential to the acquire- 
ment of skill in the treatment of intellectual and moral disor- 
ders. For years past this truth has been very generally ad- 
mitted by the intelligent and thoughtful of all classes : and as 
medical students have usually an opportunity of practicing 
and experimenting under the superintendence of professors, 
upon the unfortunate occupants of hospitals and almshouses ; 
so provision has been made in some states, and recommended in 
others, of institutions analogous to those referred to, under the 
appellation of normal schools. But as hospital practice is found 
to be of little practical utility to the medical student, if we ex- 
cept the particular department of surgery ; so also these nor- 
mal schools, as now constituted, are productive of little benefit 
to the educational student. The reason is simply this : as in 
the hospital, so in the normal school, the exercises are chiefly 
of a theoretical and partial character, consisting mainly of lec- 
tures, while the only opportunity afforded for practice is upon 
a certain class of patients in one case, and a certain class of 
pupils in the other. Neither of which is met with to any great 
extent in subsequent practice. Besides all this there is want- 
ing in both, that powerful incentive to energetic action, a direct 
interest in the result to individuals of the treatment adopted. 

The true, and perhaps the only efficient means of securing 
a supply of competent educators, is, first, to offer in some form 
adequate inducement to young persons to turn their attention 



57 

to tlie vocation of teacliing as a permanent profession. Kext, 
to devise and prescribe some efficient means whereby the pro- 
per qualifications for admission to that profession may be ob- 
tained, and lastly, to establish some ordeal, whereby the degree 
of qualification in each candidate may be tested. 

Some further remarks on this head will be introduced on 
considering the last topic proposed, that of the Teacher's Ee- 
muneration. 



CHAPTEK YI. 

The Teacher's Remuneration. 



I shall commence this branch of my subject with an extract 
from an excellent work on the " Theory and Practice of Teach- 
ing," by D. P. Page. 

Mr. Page says, in the chapter on the rewards of the teacher : 
"It is proverbial that the pecuniary compensation of the 
teacher is, in most places, far below the proper standard. It is 
very much to be regretted that an employment so important 
in all its bearings should be so poorly rewarded. In New- 
England there are many young women, who, having spent 
some time in teaching, have left that occupation to go into the 
large manufacturing establishments as laborers, simply because 
they could receive a higher compensation. I have known 
several instances in which young ladies, in humble circum- 
stances, have left teaching to become domestics, thus perform- 
ing the most ordinary manual labor, because they could receive 
better pay; that the farmers and mechanics of the district 
could afford to pay more liberally for washing and ironing, for 
making butter and cheese, for sweeping floors and cleaning 
paint, than they could for educating the immortal minds of 
their children ! 

"Nor is this confined to the female sex. Young mechanics 
and farmers, as well as those employed in manufacturing, 
frequently receive higher wages than the common school 
teacher in the same district. Many a young man, who has- 
only genius enough to drive the pegs of a shoe in a regular 



58 

row, and skill enough to blacken the surface of the article 
when it is completed, having spent but a few weeks in learn- 
ing his trade, receives more money for his work than he who, 
after having spent months, or even years, in gaining the requi- 
site qualifications, labors to polish that nobler material, the 
human soul. 

" The injustice of this becomes more apparent when we 
bear in mind that pubhc opinion demands, and justly too, that 
the teacher should be not only gentlemanly in his manners, but 
better clad than the mere laborer ; thus throwing upon him 
the greater burden without affording him the means of sustain- 
ing it. The female teacher of a district school, in order to be 
respectable, must be much more expensively dressed than the 
domestic in the family where she boards, and is thus com- 
pelled to consume most of her receipts upon her wardrobe — 
while the domestic is able to place surplus money at interest 
in the bank. This injustice has so often been laid before the 
public, and yet has been so long continued, that many have 
given up in despair, and abandoned an employment that has 
yielded so little, choosing rather to engage in that lower service 
which is so much better paid. 

"This sufficiently explains," continues Mr. Page, "why so 
many unqualified teachers have been found in our schools. 
Men of talents and ability being tempted to other employ- 
ments, have left the field unoccupied; and those men who 
have failed to gain a comfortable living by their hands, have 
been allowed to try the experiment by their wits — that is, by 
becoming teachers !" 

For this proverbial evil and crying injustice, Mr. Page sug- 
gests no remedy, however, but humble resignation on the part 
of the teacher, simply advising that he console himself by the 
consideration of the intrinsic rewards of his laborious duties, to 
be found in a consciousness of the integrity of his motives, the 
dignity of his calling, the vast importance, &c. ; all of which 
reminds me very strongly of the address of an aged miser on 
presenting with a farthing a poor orphan child, who had found 
and restored to him a bag of money that he had lost, contain- 
ing ten thousand guineas: "Here, my child, this is all I can 
afford to give you, but, thank Heaven, virtue is its ovm rewardP 



59 

And so Mr. Page, and a thousand others, would also seem to 
console the laborious, often half-clad and half-famished school- 
master, with the pathetic address, — we know you are inade- 
quately paid for your services, but, thank Heaven, teaching is 
its oion reward. If the teacher could induce his butcher, baker 
and tailor, to receive in trade some such philosophical reflec- 
tion, this might answer. But unfortunately man, as now con- 
stituted, requires something more substantial for the supply of 
his physical wants than mere abstract reflections or self-gratu- 
lations. A cut of roast beef, that can be bought for a fip^ or a 
two-penny loaf, is worth a thousand of them to a hungry man. 

There are occasionally to be met with, indeed, individuals 
who, having already a sufficient supply of this world's goods to 
enable them to gratify the more imperious wants of nature, are 
willing to devote themselves to the education of youth from 
motives of benevolence alone, without any regard to the pecu- 
niary compensation involved. But such unique specimens of 
humanity are too rare to afford room for hope of a supply of 
teachers from that source. Besides, there is some reason to appre- 
hend that such eccentric individuals are not always the most 
judicious or efficient of operators in any department. Of 
teachers of this class, the writer has had some experience ; and 
the result of that experience has taught him invariably to de- 
cline the offer of gratuitous services, or even of services for 
which a very small compensation is demanded, believing them 
to be in the end the most expensive. 

Were the state of things described by Mr. Page, and known 
to all intelligent observers, adapted to affect the condition of 
teachers only, the public might continue to look on as listless 
spectators, as they have done for centuries past. But this is 
not the fact ; the interests of the educator and the people at 
large are here strictly identical; both participate in an equal 
degree in the evil complained of, and should be equally anxious 
to devise and apply the proper remedy. 

Few reforms, however, are devised or carried into effect, 
either in moral or political economy, by the united and simul- 
taneous action of the public. These must ever be the work of 
individuals, not devised^ but only ratified by the people. 

This position is peculiarly true in reference to the subject of 



60 

education ; because, in the first place, the import of the term 
itself is understood by comparatively few, and the number of 
those who comprehend the extent and variety of the duties 
and qualifications which it involves, is yet less ; a large ma- 
jority of the people of every country conceiving education to 
imply little more than a knowledge of reading, writing, arith- 
metic, with perhaps a smattering of geography, and believing 
all who can teach these branches competent to perform its 
duties. Knowing, in the next place, that these acquirements 
are speedily attained, they lightly appreciate the services of 
those who teach them. But were it otherwise, were the end 
and aim of education better understood, and the intrinsic value 
of educational services more highly appreciated, people in 
general on that account would not pay one cent more for those 
services than compelled to do. Parents would continue to 
purchase education for their children as they purchase every- 
thing else they need, at the lowest market price. 

To wait then for any general movement of the many in this 
matter is preposterous ; a beginning must be made, if at all, by 
the few — confiding in the assurance that the proper remedy, 
when devised and applied, will soon commend itself to popu- 
lar favor, at first through the agency of its author and other 
friends, but ultimately by its beneficial effects upon the public 
morals and the national intelligence. 

The remedy appropriate to the present case appears to be 
two-fold — first, an adequate inducement for persons of talent 
and acquirement to become educators, and next, a willingness 
on the part of the public to pay a fair pecuniary compensation 
for their services. 

I have made the pecuniary compensation the secondary part 
of the remedy for two reasons — first, because I do not believe 
it is the most important part ; and, secondly, because it would 
grow spontaneously out of the first part. In other words, I 
believe the pecuniary compensation now awarded to competent 
and faithful educators^ with such adjuncts as will presently 
be suggested, would render the vocation sufficiently attractive 
to invite to it men of merit, and that an enlargement of com- 
pensation would result from the increased confidence in this 
class of persons, sufficient to retain them in the profession. 



61 

Though a fair pecuniary compensation is unquestionably 
necessary to secure for any work really valuable services, it is 
not by any means the only remuneration sought, nor perhaps 
the most powerful attraction to any special vocation. 

Can it be imagined, for instance, that any men or women, of 
genuine moral and intellectual merit, could be induced for a 
pecuniary consideration, however great, to accept an office of 
absolute turpitude or moral degradation ? The professions of 
law, medicine, and theology, are eagerly sought after, not so 
much from the expected pecuniary gain therefrom, as from the 
honor and social influence which they confer. 

It is true that a certain portion, though a very small part of 
the whole, do attain to independence and even wealth, in each 
of these professions, and a hope may be entertained by young 
aspirants of becoming in time equally successful with these 
favored few. 

But the pursuits of merchandise and the mechanical trades 
afford a much fairer prospect for the acquisition of wealth, and 
were this the sole object, there would be fewer found strug- 
gling against the opposing obstacles of intellectual or physical 
poverty, to gain admission to the bar, the pulpit, or the 
patient's bed-side; thousands, to find, alas! when too late, 
that they had been "trying to bore auger holes with a gim- 
let!" 

Probably among competent educators the proportion of those 
who receive incomes adequate to the supply of the moderate 
wants and comforts of life, is as large as among the votaries of 
law, medicine, or theology. The main difference in regard to 
the pecuniary reward, is then the absence of ground for hope 
of ultimate wealth from the pursuits of the educational pro- 
fession. ^ We must therefore look for some Other cause than 
the mere amount of pecuniary compensation, to account for the 
reluctance with which men of talent and moral merit devote 
themselves to the pursuits of education, as a profession. This 
is, beyond all question, the low grade which public estimation 
assigns to the profession itself, and the absence of all proper 
test of suitable qualification for admission thereto. 

Let a proper standard of literary and moral qualifications be 



62 

adopted, and let all, who cannot reach that standard, be ex- 
cluded from this responsible vocation, and we shall soon see 
the profession and its members rising to their proper level in 
the social scale. The village schoolmaster will be abashed at 
receiving tokens of respect, nsnally paid only to the grandees 
of the county, and indications of courtesy from those who now 
scarce deign to favor him with a nod of recognition. 

The true honor and dignity of the educational profession 
will soon be felt by those in it, and acknowledged by those out 
of it ; and, as a natural consequence, the pecuniary compensa- 
tion itself will be gradually enlarged, and paid, too, with more 
promptitude than the paltry pittance now parsimoniously doled 
out, often rather as a kind of charity, than as the earnings of 
an honorable calling. 

To effect this, it is only necessary to enact a law giving to 
the profession of education the same rights and privileges 
which belong to other professions, and prohibiting, on and after 
a certain date, any and every person from performing or- at- 
tempting to perform the duties of that profession, who have 
not yet been duly admitted to membership of it. 

This law must specify who are, and who are not worthy to 
be considered members at the time of its enactment, but this 
done, should thereafter leave to these and their successors the 
right of fixing the standard of qualifications, the means of at- 
taining them, and the test of their possession by future appli- 
cants for admission. For instance, the law may declare to be 
members of the profession, at the time of its enactment, all per- 
sons, male and female, who can and shall produce to certain 
officers, to be designated in the bill, satisfactory evidence that 
they possess certain moral and literary qualifications, (to be 
distinctly specified,) and have been successfully engaged in the 
duties of education for a term not less than two years. 

Other expedients of temporary character may be adopted 
suited to exert a partial influence for good ; but the writer is 
not alone- in the belief that a law, such as that described above? 
is the only safe and sure foundation on which an efficient state 
or national system of education can be founded. 

The writer will also venture to predict, that the state or 



63 

nation which first enacts and puts in operation a law of this 
description, will, in and bj that law, erect for itself a monument 
more enduring than time itself; for it will be a monument 
of national morality, virtue and intelligence, based on the 
eternal and unchanging principles of Justice and teue 
Philosophy ! 



E. ARNOLD, LL.D., Principal. 



This Institution, which, though it enjoys a College charter, under the 
title of " The Maryland College," the Principal prefers to designate by a 
more humble appellation, is situated in the pleasant and healthy village of 
Bel- Air, twenty-two miles northeast of Baltimore, and is accessible every 
day by railroad and stage from North and South. 

Thus easy of access, proverbial for healthfulness, and remote from 
scenes and temptations adapted to divert the youthful mind from its legiti- 
mate pursuits, Bel' Air is peculiarly desirable as a site for Schools. 

The Academy is furnished with an extensive Philosophical Apparatus, 
and those pupils who become members of the Principal's family have access 
also to his Private Library. Of these the number is limited and select, no 
youth of doubtful character being admitted. Parents, therefore, who 
commit their sons to his tutelary care, may rest assured that they will here 
enjoy all the essential advantages of a Collegiate Institution, while they 
will receive individually that watchful care and personal attention which 
can be bestowed only on the members of a Select Private School. 

The Course of Study is comprehensive, and so varied according to cir- 
cumstances, as to qualify youth for the Counting-House, the Higher Classes 
in Universities, or for entering directly upon a course of Professional Studies. 

The duties of Instruction and Discipline are not here confided to incom- 
petent and irresponsible ushers, temporarily employed, nor the pupils turned 
over as materials for experiment to young persons aiming to qualify them- 
selves for the educational profession. The discipline, which is mild and pa- 
rental, is administered, the studies are directed and superintended, and the 
recitations heard by the Principal, on a plan, the result of the study and 
practice of his profession during a period of more than twenty years. 

The Academic Year, commencing on the First Monday in September, 
consists of forty-six weeks, including a recess of one week at Christmas 
and another of the same duration at Easter. 



The TERMS for Board and Tuition, owing to the endowment enjoyed by the Academy, 
are only $160 per annum, payable semi-annually, in advance, with an extra charge of $12 
per annum to those who receive lessons in the French Language. 

Pupils admitted after the commencement of the Academic Year are charged pro rata 
from the date of their' admission ; and those who remain at the Institution during the long 
vacation are subject to a charge of $3 per week. 

REFERENC ES. 

Maryland — The Trustees of the Bel-Air Academy; Governor P. Francis Thomas; 
Professor Girault, U. S. N. School ; Hon. Henry D. Famandis ; Otho Scott, Esq. ; C. 
Sydney Norris, Esq. ; John Wilson, Esq. ; Messrs. Cushings & Bailey ; Wm. S. Parrott, 
Esq. Pennsylvania — Hon. James Buchanan ; Hon. Joseph R. Chandler. New Jersey — 
Hon. W. L. Dayton, Esq. ; Hon, A. Parsons ; Hon. M. Dickerson. New-York — Rev. Dr. 
Berrian; Hon. P. H.Sylvester. District of Columbia — Gen. Jessup ; Joseph S . Wilson, 
Esq. ; G. M. Davis, Esq. Virginia — Hon. John Y. Mason ; Com. Thos. Ap Catesby 
Jones. North Carohna — Right Rev. Dr. Ives ; James Ellis, Esq. South Carolina — Right 
Rev. Dr. Gadsden ; Dr. Tidiman. Missouri — Professor Gratz Moses, M. D. Arkansas — 
Hon. W. K. Sebastian. Tennessee — Hon. John Bell; Hon. James C. Jones. Iowa — 
Hon. Geo. W. Jones ; General Dodge ; Hon. Mr. Henn. Mississippi — Hon. R. T. Walker ; 
Hon. Geo. Winchester. Louisiana — Oliver Lovell, Esq. ; Wm. Crawford, Esq. Maine — 
Gov. Albion K. Parris. 



019 763 845 A 



